NATO has announced it will hold military...
states have repeatedly spoken in favor of large-scale military exercises in the region with the participation of NATO"s European contingent since the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia.Their concerns seemed to be further aggravated by the Russian-Belarusian Zapad 2009 exercises, held last September in Belarus. Some Baltic politicians said the drills, involving around 13,000 service personnel, 63 airplanes, 40 helicopters, 470 infantry fighting vehicles, 228 tanks and 234 artillery pieces, were to train "various plans of assault" on some Baltic states, Kommersant said.
Russia"s deal to buy four Mistral warships from France also caused a stir in Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian and Polish military circles. The deal, if concluded, will be the first-ever military sale to Russia by a NATO country.
The NATO spokesman said however there was "no relationship between our training event and the potential Mistral deal."
MOSCOW, March 4 (RIA Novosti)
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