KAZAKHSTAN TO ATTEND NATO DRILLS IN ARMENIA

Kazakhstan General Newswire
June 25, 2008

Turkey, Azerbaijan and Russia will not participate in the Cooperative
Longbow/Lancer NATO exercises that take place in Armenia this fall.

Deputy head of the general staff of the Armenian armed forces Arshaluys
Paytyan made this announcement at a final session of the NATO exercise
planning conference.

According to him, drill participants from the former USSR include
Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Moldova. "22 countries take
part in the exercises, including 7 NAT member countries, among them US,
UK, Canada, Poland and Lithuania, as well 13 NATO partner countries.

Representatives of the United Arab Emirates will arrive in Yerevan
to represent Istanbul Cooperation," said Paytyan.

According to the press service of the Armenian Defense Ministry,
NATO CP exercises are scheduled on September 26 – October 7 and
include 429 officers and a total of 748 servicemen.