STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NATO, Partners Begin Military Exercise in Georgia TBILISI, Jun 11, 2001 -- (Reuters) Some 4,000 servicemen from 11 countries began a NATO training exercise near Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti on Monday aimed at deepening cooperation between the military alliance and countries to the east. Soldiers from the United States, France, Italy, Turkey, Sweden and Greece were participating in the two-week exercise with others from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Georgia. International Red Cross officials were also taking part. "The main purpose of the exercises is to carry out coordinated activities among military forces of NATO and its partner countries, deepening collaboration in the military sphere and also carrying out humanitarian operations," Georgian Defense Ministry spokesman Mirian Kiknadze told Reuters. The exercises will take place onshore and aboard 40 vessels in the Black Sea, he said. Romania and Bulgaria are among nine eastern European candidates for NATO membership. Alliance leaders will meet in Prague at the end of next year to decide whether to allow further expansion to the east after three countries -- Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic -- were admitted in 1999. Former Soviet Ukraine, sandwiched between Russia and Europe, has made overtures to NATO but has been careful to avoid saying it wants to join it. Azerbaijan has suggested that NATO bases be established on its soil to counterbalance a Russian military presence in neighboring Armenia, with which Azerbaijan is locked in a grinding dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory. Western-oriented Georgia says it has aspirations to join, to the annoyance of its giant northern neighbor Russia. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said on Monday the NATO exercises marked a step toward bringing Georgian armed forces up to NATO standards. "As to the political side, we could consider the NATO exercises as confirmation of the readiness of our country to move towards deeper Euro-Atlantic integration," Shevardnadze said in a regular radio broadcast. Georgia has pressed for the closure of all four Russian military bases on its soil. Two bases will be closed down by July and the two sides are negotiating a timetable for closure of two other bases. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
