TBILISI, April 23. /TASS/. Georgia’s Vaziani military base near Tbilisi will stage Noble Partner joint drills with about 200 US servicemen on May 11-25, the US embassy in the South Caucasus republic said on Thursday.
- Russian diplomat: off-bloc status of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova should be legally binding
- Georgia claims NATO ties have no goal of deploying alliance’s military infrastructure
- Abkhazian foreign minister alarmed by Georgia’s participation in NATO exercises
- South Ossetia fears that Georgia may attack again — foreign minister
- South Ossetia says NATO’s plans to set up training centers in Georgia are provocative
"From May 11-25, 200 troops from the United States will participate in the Georgian-led military exercise Noble Partner at Vaziani Training Area, located outside of Tbilisi. Noble Partner is designed to improve interoperability of Georgian and US troops in the framework of the NATO Response Force (NRF)," the US embassy said in a statement.
The NRF exercise "builds on the longstanding bilateral military relationship between our two countries," the statement said.
The NRF was launched in 2002 and provides a rapid multinational military force, which can deploy quickly wherever needed, the US diplomatic mission in Georgia said.
"Noble Partner has been under development since late 2013, when Georgia committed to contribute troops to the NRF and the United States agreed to sponsor Georgia's NRF participation," the embassy said.
Georgia’s Defense Ministry announced more than a year ago that "from 2015, Georgia is joining the NATO Response Force and the United States was chosen as a sponsor state for this purpose.".