Georgia begins U.S.-led military exercise, angering Russia

Record ID: 104047

  • Title: Georgia begins U.S.-led military exercise, angering Russia
  • Date: 11th May 2016
  • Summary: VAZIANI, GEORGIA (MAY 11, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARMOURED VEHICLES LINED, SPECTATORS GATHERED SOLDIERS STANDING IN FRONT OF VEHICLE AND EQUIPMENT WITH BRITISH FLAG BOARD BEARING DETAILS OF ARMOURED VEHICLE BEHIND WITH U.S. FLAG PERCHED ON TOP VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS IN FRONT OF ARMOURED VEHICLES SOLDIERS STANDING IN LINE (SOUNDBITE) (English) GEORGIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, TINA KHIDASHELI, SAYING: "This is a very important event for Georgia. This is one of the biggest exercises this country has ever hosted. This is the biggest number of troops on the ground that we've ever had. This is the biggest amount of equipment that has ever been deployed in Georgia. It helps the cause of the support to the Georgian military to get more advanced, to get exercise to the modern high technology, to have the country's choices met by having its military as close to NATO standards as possible and most importantly, at the end of this training session we will have the first Georgian company officially accredited to the NATO NRF (NATO Response Force)." GEORGIAN SOLDIERS STANDING IN FRONT OF VEHICLES (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF EXERCISES, COLONEL JEFFREY DICKERSON, SAYING: "The importance of exercises like this one, Noble Partner 16, is to continuously improve the interoperability between our countries. In this case the interoperability between Georgia, the United States and the United Kingdom. And it continuously enhances the readiness of all of our countries' armed forces, this one especially as it enables us to prepare Georgia's contribution to the NATO Response Force to get that company certified and ready to be a part of that NATO Response Force." COLONEL DICKERSON'S NAME BADGE PLANES FLYING IN OVER GEORGIAN, U.S. AND UK FLAGS PLANES FLYING OVER ASSEMBLED TROOPS AND SPECTATORS 12 VARIOUS OF PLANES RELEASING PARACHUTES PARACHUTERS LANDING TROOPS IN TRENCH VARIOUS OF EXPLOSIONS AND SMOKE VARIOUS OF TROOPS RUNNING FROM ONE TRENCH TO ANOTHER, GUNFIRE AUDIBLE YELLOW SMOKE ARMOURED VEHICLE WITH SALUTING CREW MEMBER OUT OF TOP HATCH NEAR U.S. FLAG ARMOURED VEHICLES WITH U.S. FLAGS DRIVING
  • Embargoed: 26th May 2016 15:48
  • Keywords: Georgia USA UK military exercises drills NATO Nato Response Force Russia
  • Location: VAZIANI, GEORGIA
  • City: VAZIANI, GEORGIA
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014HD7PZB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:The Georgian army began two weeks of military exercises with the United States and Britain on Wednesday (May 11), drawing an angry response from former Soviet master Russia which called the war games "a provocative step".
    About 650 soldiers from the United States, 150 from Britain and 500 from Georgia were taking part in the manoeuvres, with Washington dispatching an entire mechanised company including eight Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and, for the first time, eight M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks.
    Georgia's Defence Minister Tina Khidasheli said the drills were an important event for the South Caucasus republic.
    "This is one of the biggest exercises this country has ever hosted. This is the biggest number of troops on the ground that we've ever had. This is the biggest amount of equipment that has ever been deployed in Georgia," Khidasheli told Reuters.
    "It helps the cause of the support to the Georgian military to get more advanced, to get exercise to the modern high technology, to have the country's choices met by having its military as close to NATO standards as possible and most importantly, at the end of this training session we will have the first Georgian company officially accredited to the NATO NRF (NATO Response Force)," she added.
    The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a highly ready and technologically advanced multinational force that the Alliance can deploy quickly, wherever needed, according to NATO.
    But the exercises went down badly in Moscow where the Russian Foreign Ministry last week warned they could destabilise the region, a charge denied by Georgian officials.
    "These exercises are not directed against anyone. There is no trace of provocation," Georgia's Prime Minister Georgy Kvirikashvili said in a statement.
    Russia defeated Georgia in a short war in 2008 over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, and Moscow continues to garrison troops there and to support another breakaway region, Abkhazia.
    The exercises were run out of the Vaziani military base near Georgia's capital Tbilisi.
    Russian forces used to be based there until they withdrew at the start of the last decade under the terms of a European arms reduction agreement.
    "The importance of these exercises is to improve interoperability between Georgia, the United States and the United Kingdom….It enables us to prepare Georgia's contribution to the NATO response force," Colonel Jeffrey Dickerson, the U.S. director of the exercises, told Reuters.
    The United States has spoken favourably of the idea that Georgia might one day join NATO, something Russia firmly opposes.
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