Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday he believed that the ongoing war games of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in neighboring Georgia would add strains to the already tense situation in the Caucasus region.
| Yes, but so would doing nothing, at least for the Georgians. |
"I think they will add nothing to the pan-European security but will on the contrary increase tensions," the Russian leader told reporters here after his talks with visiting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He reaffirmed Moscow's opposition to the drills, deeming them provocative and unhelpful in the wake of last summer's armed conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.
Medvedev said the Russian suggestions on signing a pan-Europe security treaty aimed to form a new ground for understanding in association with non-NATO members.
The drills, codenamed Cooperative Longbow/Cooperative Lancer 2009 command-and-staff exercise runs from May 6 to June 1. The full-scale exercise began on May 11 with over 1,300 troops from 19 NATO allies taking part. NATO tried to allay Russia's concerns, saying on several occasions that the exercise had been planned before the Georgia war and was not aimed against Russia which was invited to take part in the exercises but shunned the invitation.
| It will, however, make it more difficult for the Russkies to invade prior to June 2nd. |
The trans-Atlantic military alliance affirmed that the drills in Georgia aimed to improve interoperability between NATO and partner countries, within the framework of Partnership for Peace, Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative programs, and will not involve any light or heavy weaponry.
Meanwhile, Medvedev hailed as "crucial for the entire Europe" the Russian-Italian partnership for the South Stream gas pipeline which will be commissioned by December 31, 2015. The deadline for commissioning the South Stream gas pipeline has been set by the signing corporate agreements between Russia's Gazprom and Italy's Eni on Friday. The two sides have agreed to raise the capacity of pipeline from 31 billion to 63 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Europe a year via Bulgaria and Serbia. |