LOC23:22
20:22 GMT
MOSCOW, May 16 (KUNA) -- 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.
"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.
The tans-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. (end)
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