RUSSIA-FOREIGN MINISTRY/GEORGIA Russia says NATO training centre opening in Georgia provocative

Record ID: 142327

  • Title: RUSSIA-FOREIGN MINISTRY/GEORGIA Russia says NATO training centre opening in Georgia provocative
  • Date: 27th August 2015
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (AUGUST 27, 2015) (REUTERS) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN MARIA ZAKHAROVA AT NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN, MARIA ZAKHAROVA, SAYING: "We've paid attention to the information that during a visit of the Nato Secretary-General Stoltenberg to Georgia a joint NATO-Georgian training centre was opened. There are plans to carry out training and drills on the centre's grounds to improve interoperability, compatibility and cohesion of NATO countries forces, the Georgian armed forces and the alliance's partner-states." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN, MARIA ZAKHAROVA, SAYING: "We view this step as a continuation of the alliance's provocative policy, which is aimed at enlargement of its geopolitical influence by using often resources of the alliance's partner-countries. Also creating such military facility of the North-Atlantic Alliance in Georgia serves as a destabilising factor for security in the region." MEDIA ZAKHAROVA AT NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1DO3LKGLRWGCL0CHUXCLUD5JK
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Russia considers the opening of a NATO training centre in Georgia provocative, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday (August 27).
    Russia believes that a further strengthening of ties between the Western military alliance and Tbilisi would destabilize the security situation in the region, Zakharova told a briefing in Moscow.
    "We've paid attention to the information that during a visit of the Nato Secretary-General Stoltenberg to Georgia a joint NATO-Georgian training centre was opened. There are plans to carry out training and drills on the centre's grounds to improve interoperability, compatibility and cohesion of NATO countries forces, the Georgian armed forces and the alliance's partner-states," said Zakharova.
    NATO said on Thursday that a new training centre opened in Georgia would help the former Soviet republic to move closer to membership in the military alliance.
    "We view this step as a continuation of the alliance's provocative policy, which is aimed at enlargement of its geopolitical influence by using often resources of the alliance's partner-countries. Also creating such military facility of the North-Atlantic Alliance in Georgia serves as a destabilising factor for security in the region," Zakharova added.
    Georgia's government has long hoped to join the alliance. But Russia, which fought a 2008 war with Georgia over two Moscow-backed breakaway regions, has said such a move would threaten its security.
    Stoltenberg on Thursday said the centre was part of a package of measures to boost Georgia's defence capabilities agreed at a summit last September.
    The centre will provide theoretical and practical training for Georgian soldiers and officers by NATO personnel.
    With about 885 soldiers, Georgia is the second-largest contributor of troops after the United States to NATO's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.
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