24 January 2019, 01:28
NATO announces large-scale exercises in Georgia
The North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) is strengthening cooperation with Georgia in the Black Sea. The next exercises will be held in March with participation of military servicemen from 17 countries, the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, announced at his meeting with the Georgian President, Salome Zurabishvili.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 1-15, 2018, the NATO held the "Worthy Partner-2018" exercises in Georgia with the participation of 1300 Georgian, 1170 US and 500 military servicemen from 11 other countries.
Over the past 10 years, at least 45 military exercises have been held in Georgia. The country's authorities have focused on strengthening its armed forces in line with the NATO's standards and joining the Alliance.
According to Mr Stoltenberg, the NATO shares "concern over Russia's military strengthening in the Black Sea region."
He also noted that the Alliance is fully supporting the territorial integrity of Georgia, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and "calls on Russia to cancel the recognition of the independence of these regions and withdraw its armed forces from there," the "InterPressNews" reports.
The integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures is the Georgia's top foreign policy priority, Ms Zurabishvili has stated.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 23, 2019 at 09:49 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
