GEORGIA-MILITARY/NATO-DRILLS Georgia concludes joint military drills with NATO

Record ID: 146488

  • Title: GEORGIA-MILITARY/NATO-DRILLS Georgia concludes joint military drills with NATO
  • Date: 21st July 2015
  • Summary: VAZIANI, GEORGIA (JULY 21, 2015) (REUTERS) MILITARY DRILL UNDERWAY AT BASE, SOUND OF FIRE GUNFIRE COMING FROM BUILDING WITH SANDBAGS IN WINDOWS TWO VEHICLES ON ROAD WITH SOLDIERS POSITIONED ON TOP AND FIRING, TWO SOLDIERS RUNNING ACROSS TWO SOLDIERS RUNNING ACROSS FIELD VARIOUS OF MILITARY DRILL IN PROGRESS, YELLOW SMOKE RISING COLUMN OF SOLDIERS SIDLING CLOSER TO BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2U2ER9X22GE0XOP0KHRYOJ1H0
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Military drills involving western NATO alliance states and Georgia in the South Caucasian republic came to a conclusion on Tuesday (July 21), after a two week run.
    The Agile Spirit 2015 exercises were conducted at the Vaziani military base near the capital Tbilisi, which was a Russian air force base until Russian forces withdrew at the start of the last decade under a European arms reduction agreement.
    The joint exercises focused on testing peacekeeping and support operations.
    Drills saw Georgian servicemen train along with up to 220 U.S. marines and platoon-size units from Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania. Service members from the 42nd battalion of the 4th mechanized brigade of the Georgian Armed Forces were also participating in the drills.
    "I think that these exercises showed once again that our servicemen are ready for participation not only in NATO's multinational exercises, but also in NRF (NATO Response Force) exercises," said Georgia's deputy chief of general staff, Colonel Roman Jokhadze, at the end of the exercises.
    Representatives from the Armenian and Moldovan armed forces attending the exercises as "observers", according to the Georgian Ministry of Defense.
    Agile Spirit exercises were initially bilateral U.S.-Georgian military drills held annually in Georgia since 2011. But this year U.S. and Georgia launched separate annual joint drills - Noble Partner- that were held in May, and Agile Sprit has now turned into multinational exercises.
    The exercises were held in frames of a substantial package granted to Georgia by NATO leaders at a summit in Wales last year, said the head of NATO's liaison office, William Lahue.
    "I think what is important to understand is that this is the first major exercise in Georgia, associated with a substantial package, which was granted to Georgia during the Wales summit. So this is the first one connected with NATO, where you have NATO partners involved as observers in and Georgia is opened to NATO partners. And then the joint training and evaluation centre, which will officially open in August, will plan future exercises of this nature in Georgia. So we can expect a regular series of exercises to be conducted in Georgia," said Lahue.
    According to NATO the military drills are aimed at supporting Georgia's advance toward membership in the alliance.
    Georgia has U.S. backing for its bid to join the Western NATO alliance. But the move is firmly opposed by Russia, which fought a five-day war with Georgia in 2008 and supports separatist authorities in two Georgian breakaway regions: Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register