Georgia began military exercises under the auspices of NATO.

KommentariiIsklyuchitelno Peaceful tselyah24.04.2009NATO hold exercises in Georgia to the positions of the territory of Georgia started RossiiNa exercises Cooperative Longbow 09/Cooperative Lancer 09 passing through the Partnership for Peace program under the auspices of NATO. According to the Ministry of Defense of Georgia, the majority of participants had already arrived at the location, and the exercises began as planned, reports AFP.
As reported earlier exercises will take place in two steps from 6 May to 1 June at the military base "Vaziani. The first phase will consist of a command and staff, and the second - from field exercises. According to BBC News, the total number of troops involved in training more than a thousand people.
In the program "Partnership for Peace" took part as the 27 members of NATO and 20 non-alliance. According to initial data in the exercises on the territory of Georgia were to take part, 19 States, but for different reasons, refused to Latvia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Serbia and Armenia. May 6, has been known to refuse Switzerland.
Russia is opposed to the exercises in Georgia, arguing that they contribute to destabilization in the region. For its part, NATO rejected this suspicion, stressing that the exercise would take place without the use of heavy weapons.
Stop in the region after last year's conflict, which was forced to intervene Russia remains tense, as all parties involved to fear provocation. In early May, Russian border guards began patrolling the borders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia under a bilateral agreement with these republics, which led to criticism from NATO, accusing Russia of violating the ceasefire agreements in Georgia.
In addition, on May 5, Georgian authorities said on the prevention of attempted military coup, whose organizers reportedly enjoyed the support of Russia.