The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has announced it will proceed with its scheduled military exercise in Georgia despite Russia’s ire.
NATO spokesman Robert Pszczel said on Thursday that the organization’s war game will go forward according to plan as “it was planned to take place in Georgia and that was known for a long time,” adding “Georgia is with the same rights and responsibilities in the ‘Partnership for Peace’ program.”
Pszczel, however, asked for Russia’s involvement in the war-game, noting “Russia could have joined any time, [it] still could. Although the exercises are starting pretty soon on May 6. But it’s open, I stress again, to all partner countries.”
Russians perceive NATO’s decision to carry on with its military exercise in the Caucasian state to be an ‘absurd provocation’ in the region.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the organization that “the demonstration of NATO complicity with … the Georgian regime is unlikely to send the right signal to those sincerely wishing to achieve stability in the Caucasus.”
“I hope that the NATO countries will shun steps planned for future cooperation with Georgia … that could again push the Georgian regime towards an attitude of permissiveness and impunity,” he said.
Around 1,300 NATO troops from 19 countries are due to participate in the exercises that will last for a month. The exercise is scheduled to be held in a training center east of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
Further reading: Medvedev slams dangerous NATO exercises.
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