Russia deplores the NATO decision to hold military training in Georgia. It shows that the alliance did not draw right lesson from the developments in the Caucasus in August 2008, RIA Novosto quoted Russian ambassador the United States Sergey Kislyak a saying in New York.
Corporative Longbow 09 /Corporative Lancer 09 multinational training is expected to begin on May 6 and run through June 1 in Georgia. As many as 1,300 military men from 19 alliance member states and partners will participate.
"Differences between Russia and U.S. on a number of issues still persist. The most recent example is NATO maneuvers in Georgia. It disappoints us as it assures Georgian government that regardless of what it did towards Russia, it will gain NATO membership. Unfortunately, no lesson was drawn from August events," Russian ambassador said at Carnegie Council in New York. Carnegie Council is one of the leading U.S. centers studying international relations.
In response to possible large-scale conflict on use of conventional, non-nuclear weapons, Russian ambassador pointed to conflict situation in the South Caucasus that erupted after Georgia-Ossetia conflict.
"What NATO's response would be if Georgia had been member state? Unconditional use of fifth article of the regulation (according to which attack on a NATO country means attack on other members states)," he said.
He called on conference to adopt more balanced decision while admitting new states the management of which "must be reasonable at least".