Yerevan refuses to join drills over NATO`s support for Baku - report
Armenia has refused to participate in NATO exercises
due in Georgia in protest at the support of the alliance`s chief
for Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity, Russian Regnum news agency
quoted Armenian Foreign Ministry sources as saying.
Yerevan announced it would not take part in the Cooperative Lancer/ Cooperative Longbow drills to be held in the neighboring South Caucasus republic May 6-June 3 after NATO`s Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer made the statement at a news conference after meeting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels on April 29.
Armenia`s move is actually linked to the Russian factor, analysts say, as Moscow is striving to prevent these exercises from taking place. Servicemen from Latvia, Estonia and Kazakhstan have also stated they would not head to Georgia for the drills, citing diverse reasons.
Azerbaijan`s military men will participate in the exercises.
Around 1,000 soldiers from more than a dozen NATO member states and partners will practice "crisis response" at the Vaziani base east of Tbilisi, around 70 km from the nearest Russian troop positions in breakaway South Ossetia.
Yerevan announced it would not take part in the Cooperative Lancer/ Cooperative Longbow drills to be held in the neighboring South Caucasus republic May 6-June 3 after NATO`s Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer made the statement at a news conference after meeting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels on April 29.
Armenia`s move is actually linked to the Russian factor, analysts say, as Moscow is striving to prevent these exercises from taking place. Servicemen from Latvia, Estonia and Kazakhstan have also stated they would not head to Georgia for the drills, citing diverse reasons.
Azerbaijan`s military men will participate in the exercises.
Around 1,000 soldiers from more than a dozen NATO member states and partners will practice "crisis response" at the Vaziani base east of Tbilisi, around 70 km from the nearest Russian troop positions in breakaway South Ossetia.
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