NATO KICKS OFF GEORGIA EXERCISES
BBC NEWS
8035130.stm
2009/05/06 12:40:10 GMT
A series of Nato military exercises has begun in Georgia, amid angry
condemnation from Russia.
Soldiers from 18 countries are taking part in the drills at a Georgian
army base close to the capital, Tbilisi.
Russia, which fought a war against Georgia last year, has condemned
the exercises, which President Dmitry Medvedev called "an overt
provocation".
On Tuesday Georgia put down a mutiny by soldiers, and claimed it had
uncovered a Russian-backed coup plot.
Relations between Nato and Russia were supposed to have been on the
mend after last year’s war in Georgia, but have now taken a dramatic
turn for the worse, the BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow says.
Russia said on Wednesday that it was expelling two Canadian diplomats
working for Nato’s Moscow office in response to what it terms an
"unfriendly act" by the military alliance.
Last week Nato expelled two Russian envoys from its headquarters in
Brussels, reportedly due to spying.
‘Misinterpreted’
More than 1,000 soldiers will take part in the Nato exercises over
a period of more than three weeks.
Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent, BBC News website The best
hope for an improvement in Nato-Russia ties lies in talks between
Washington and Moscow about nuclear weapons. The two sides have set
themselves a deadline of December to reach an agreement. If they do
agree that will be an up. But equally there will be downs in future
as well. The basic relationship has not been worked out. There is
suspicion among Nato members about the authoritarian nature of the
Russian government and its determination to exercise influence over
its near neighbours. And there is suspicion in Moscow that Nato would
like Russia to return to the chaotic days of the 1990s, when Russia
was passive and compliant.
They are taking place close to areas where Russian troops are stationed
in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Georgia’s defence ministry said Nato would spend the next few days
setting up a staff headquarters at the Vaziani base outside the
capital Tbilisi.
The first exercise, running until 19 May, is described as a "command
post" exercise focusing on co-ordinating Nato procedures in a
crisis-response situation.
Then a second, larger, exercise, based on peacekeeping training,
will run till 3 June.
Nato has denied the exercises are aimed at Russia or the breakaway
regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"This issue has been totally misused, I think, by all parties. Georgia
is not the object of this exercise, Georgia is the host of this
exercise like Armenia was the year before," Nato spokesman James
Appathurai told BBC News.
"The Russians can portray it the way they want… They’re not the
only ones to misuse this exercise for political purposes.
"I can tell you the secretary-general has spoken to the leadership
in Georgia to express his concern that they also are misusing this
exercise for political purposes."
Armenia, Kazakhstan, Serbia and Moldova – Russian allies which had
been invited by Nato to participate in the Georgian manoeuvres –
have all pulled out.
Unstable country
Nato has promised eventual membership to Georgia, but has given it
no target date for entry. Russia is vehemently opposed to Georgian
membership.
The mutiny on Tuesday in Georgia is likely to reinforce in the minds
of many Nato members that now is not the time to commit the alliance
to the defence of such an unstable country, says the BBC’s world
affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds.
The rebellion erupted on Tuesday morning, when soldiers at a tank
battalion began disobeying orders, Georgian officials said.
"The plan was to stage a large-scale mutiny in Tbilisi and to take
steps against the sovereignty of Georgia and the Georgian government’s
European and Euro-Atlantic integration," said President Mikhail
Saakashvili.
The interior ministry had earlier said it was part of a Russian-linked
coup attempt to kill the president – an allegation described by
Russia’s envoy to Nato as "mad".