THE OLD PLAN IS DEAR TO NATO
by Darya Yuryeva

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 27, 2009 Monday
Russia

Russian Foreign Ministry called explanations of the alliance "cheap"

DIPLOMATIC BATTLES ABOUT THE NATO EXERCISES IN GEORGIA CONTINUE;
Despite the protests of Moscow that even postponed the meeting of
chiefs of the general staffs of the Russia-NATO council planned for May
7 indefinitely, representatives of NATO stated clearly that they would
not give up the exercises. The only thing that Western countries did
was quot;soothing downquot; Russian officials by words. Robert Wood,
spokesperson for the US Department of State announced, quot;I have
heard the statements that Russia is worried by these exercises. Listen,
these exercises do not threaten Russia or anyone else. We planned
them a long time ago.quot;

Despite the protests of Moscow that even postponed the meeting of
chiefs of the general staffs of the Russia-NATO council planned for May
7 indefinitely, representatives of NATO stated clearly that they would
not give up the exercises. The only thing that Western countries did
was quot;soothing downquot; Russian officials by words. Robert Wood,
spokesperson for the US Department of State announced, quot;I have
heard the statements that Russia is worried by these exercises. Listen,
these exercises do not threaten Russia or anyone else. We planned
them a long time ago.quot;

In any case, the Russian Foreign Ministry called such arguments
quot;cheap and not convincing.quot; The Foreign Ministry also
expressed its concern about reception of military support of the US
by Georgia. According to the ministry, thus Americans infringe on
the international agreements that prohibit the import of weapons to
conflict zones.

The Russian Duma did not neglect the upcoming exercises either. Along
with this, parliament members were most of all indignant not
about the fact of the exercises but about the composition of their
participants. Not only will Georgia learn military business from NATO
countries but also some other countries including CIS member states
Azerbaijan, Moldova and Armenia. Semen Bagdasarov, member of the
international affairs committee of the Duma proposed quot;inquiring of
opinion of the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry.quot; According to
Bagdasarov, the fact that Armenia being a member state of Collective
Security Treaty Organization participates in the exercises is the
most surprising.

Not all former Soviet republics accepted the invitation of NATO to take
part in the exercises. Latvia, Estonia and Kazakhstan refused to accept
the offer. Latvia explained its decision by a vague wording saying
that quot;situation is not such now to send additional peoplequot;
to exercises. Kazakhstan and Estonia did not explain their decisions
yet. According to some experts, the decision of Kazakhstan was
influenced by the negative attitude of Moscow.