MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. The opening of NATO’s training center in Georgia is another move to continue the alliance’s provocative policies to expand geo-political influence, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"Georgia and NATO have opened a joint training and evaluation center. Exercises and training sessions will be held on its basis. We regard this step as continuation of the alliance’s provocative policies to expand its geopolitical influence by using the resources of the alliance’s partner states," Zakharova said. "The deployment of such a facility in Georgia is a major destabilizing factor for security in the region.

Zakharova explained that conclusion was derived from the previous tragic experience.

"There are no doubts that promises of Georgia’s future accession to NATO, pronounced at the alliance’s summit in Bucharest in April 2008, made the then officials in Tbilisi develop the delusion of impunity and pushed them towards a criminal attempt to subjugate South Ossetia by military force," Zakharova said. "Georgia has not reconciled itself yet with the irreversible consequences of that reckless attempt. It still lays claim to the territories of neighboring independent states and stubbornly avoids concluding non-aggression pacts with them."

"Those who in this situation keep pulling Tbilisi into NATO should be aware of the degree of their responsibility," Zakharova said.

"As far as Russia is concerned, it will continue to comply with the international liabilities to provide reliable protection for its allies - the republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia," Zakharova said. "It will also take note of all new developments in NATO-Georgia cooperation."