The upcoming NATO exercises in Georgia will not help stability in the Caucasus region, the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying in Yerevan, Armenia on Thursday.
"The display of NATO's support to the Georgian regime will hardly send a correct message to those who sincerely wish stabilization in the Caucasus.
"We think that the latest NATO resolution, which bluntly confirmed Georgia's eventual accession to the alliance, is a reason for the all-permissiveness complex of President Mikhail Saakashvili.
"Hopefully, NATO member countries will avoid steps which may encourage all-permissiveness and feelings of impunity within the Georgian regime while planning their further interaction with Georgia in the Partnership for Peace program," Lavrov said.
He also hoped that NATO countries understand "it is dangerous to arm Georgia" from the August conflict last year.
Meanwhile, the Russian envoy to NATO on Thursday also urged the leadership of the alliance not to hold exercises in Georgia in May.
"We forwarded an official address to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer proposing that the NATO military exercises in Georgia planned for the near future be postponed or canceled," Interfax reported earlier, quoting Russian Permanent Representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, as saying.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday also responded to NATO's drill intention, saying it may encourage the Saakashvili regime to stage more military adventures.
"For NATO's leadership it would be far more wise to either postpone the exercise or cancel it altogether," the Itar-Tass news agency reported, quoting an anonymous official from the ministry.
NATO's central military command announced on Wednesday that the alliance will conduct two series of exercises in Georgia between May 6 and June 1. Nineteen countries will participate in the exercises designed to improve inter-operability between the organization and its partner countries.
(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2009)
