TBILISI: NATO kicked off controversial military exercises in ex-Soviet Georgia on Wednesday as tensions spiked in relations with neighbouring Russia over Moscow’s expulsion of two alliance diplomats.
Launched a day after Georgia accused Russia of backing a brief military mutiny that allegedly included a plot to assassinate President Mikheil Saakashvili, the exercises have strained ties between the Cold War-era rivals.
Tensions in the region, the scene of a short war between Russia and Georgia last August, were raised further on Wednesday as police clashed with anti-government protesters trying to storm a police building in Tbilisi.
Officials said riot police had used truncheons to repel the protesters as they attempted to climb a fence into the building, but the opposition said police had fired rubber bullets into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators.
Georgian television showed riot police using batons to force back hundreds of protesters trying to climb over the fence, as opposition supporters threw sticks and rocks at police. At least one protester was seen covered in blood.
The opposition has accused Saakashvili of staging Tuesday’s mutiny in a bid to distract attention away from the protest movement against his rule and what the president’s critics see as his mishandling of the conflict with Russia.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russia said it had expelled two Canadian diplomats working as NATO envoys in Moscow after an “unfriendly act by NATO.” NATO has expelled two Russian envoys from its Brussels headquarters in a spy scandal.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer criticised the Russian expulsions as “unfortunate” and “counterproductive.”
“NATO very much regrets the Russian action and does not consider there to be any justification for it,” he said.
Officials in Ottawa said Canada “strongly regrets” the expulsions and that Russia’s ambassador had been summoned to explain the move.
But Moscow’s envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, criticised the alliance as “more and more unpredictable” in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper, saying: “The alliance can’t seem to behave in a respectable, stable and decent way.”
Russia fiercely objects to Georgia hosting the month-long NATO exercises and is also opposed to Georgia’s bid to join the alliance.
Georgian Defence Minister David Sikharulidze countered, saying: “The noise from Russia about these exercises is completely unreasonable.”
In another sign of tensions, Georgia said Wednesday it had arrested one of its top former diplomats on espionage charges and said he had been providing detailed military intelligence to Moscow.
On Tuesday Georgia said it had peacefully put down a mutiny at a military base outside Tbilisi aimed at disrupting the NATO exercises.
Georgia initially accused Russia of backing an armed coup — a claim Moscow described as “insane” — but later backed away from the claim.
At least 20 people have been arrested and police were hunting for two former military officers and a current officer alleged to have been involved.
Defence minister Sikharulidze said it was “a serious but isolated incident.”
“The investigation will reveal the real picture of what happened. (The organisers) never clearly formulated their demands and goals,” he said.
The NATO exercises involve at least 1,100 soldiers from 10 NATO countries and six of the alliance’s “partner” countries.
Russian ally Armenia backed out of the exercises after Tuesday’s mutiny.
On Wednesday a Georgian defence ministry spokesman responsible for the exercises, Colonel Giorgi Kakiashvili, said participants were gathering for planning meetings and full-scale command exercises would begin on Monday.
The exercises have two parts: the first will be carried out almost exclusively on computers and the second, between May 18 and June 1, will involve 400 troops as part of training for peacekeeping operations, NATO said.
