NATO exercises start in Azerbaijan

16:51 | 18/ 04/ 2009

BAKU, April 18 (RIA Novosti) – The Regional Response 2009 military
exercises got underway in Azerbaijan on Saturday, the country’s Defense
Ministry said in a statement.

The exercises, under NATO’s Partnership for Peace program, run until
April 26 and are intended to contribute to Azerbaijan’s Individual
Partnership Action Plan. They involve three-day staff exercises and
five-day field exercises, focusing on multinational peacekeeping
operations.

Countries attending the exercises as participants or observers include
the United States, Bulgaria, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.

Soldiers from Azerbaijan serve alongside Turkish troops in the NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.