WSJ, May 6:
TBILISI, Georgia -- Georgian authorities said they put down an attempted mutiny at a military base outside the capital Tuesday as simmering political tensions erupted on the eve of monthlong NATO exercises in the country.
President Mikheil Saakashvili said the uprising had been a serious threat and implied it was backed by Russia, an accusation Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, called "mad."
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"This was an attempt to undermine NATO exercises planned for tomorrow; it was not a coup attempt as its scale was so small," Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said in a telephone interview.
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The exercises, which Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has criticized as "muscle flexing," will comprise war games through June 3 involving 1,300 troops from more than a dozen NATO countries. Western-leaning Georgia, which lost a five-day war with Russia over its breakaway region of South Ossetia in August, aspires to join NATO. Moscow opposes the alliance's expansion in the region.
President Mikheil Saakashvili said the uprising had been a serious threat and implied it was backed by Russia, an accusation Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, called "mad."
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"This was an attempt to undermine NATO exercises planned for tomorrow; it was not a coup attempt as its scale was so small," Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said in a telephone interview.
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The exercises, which Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has criticized as "muscle flexing," will comprise war games through June 3 involving 1,300 troops from more than a dozen NATO countries. Western-leaning Georgia, which lost a five-day war with Russia over its breakaway region of South Ossetia in August, aspires to join NATO. Moscow opposes the alliance's expansion in the region.
Georgia is the front line in a war between a motivated hegemon and a leaderless West.
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