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Marines train Georgians amid tension

TBILISI, Georgia — President Mikhail Saakashvili praised a joint military training program involving more than 1,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers at a former Soviet base, amid heightened tensions with Moscow.

The effort Monday, involving 600 Georgian troops, shows that Georgia has “the best trained and equipped army” in the strategic Caucasus mountain region, Saakashvili said in comments broadcast on Georgian television.

While the exercise was planned months ago, it followed sporadic clashes between Georgians and separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, breakaway regions closely tied to Russia. And it comes amid friction over Georgia’s bid for NATO membership, viewed by Moscow as hostile.

Georgia has about 2,000 troops in Iraq — making it the third largest contributor to coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain — but plans to end the Iraq operation by the end of this year. So far, five Georgian soldiers have died in the conflict.

Marine Capt. James Haunty, 30, commander of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, said Friday that he was keeping an eye on the simmering conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

“I’m not concerned about anything serious happening as long as there are U.S. troops here in Georgia,” Haunty said, shortly before 50-caliber machine gun bullets began peppering a hillside at the Vaziani training complex, about 6 miles east of the capital. “But we still will monitor the situation.”

The U.S. soldiers, Marines and airmen arrived in Tbilisi in mid-July to teach combat skills to Georgian soldiers, as well as 30 troops from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. The program, called Exercise Immediate Response 2008, includes simulated attacks from roadside bombs and other challenges troops might expect in Iraq, Haunty said.

Lance Cpl. Jonah Salyers, 23, a Marine reservist, said it was his first trip outside of the United States and conceded that he might not have been able to find the republic of Georgia on a map.

“I could have found the state, I’ll tell you that,” he said Friday.

Pointing to the snowcapped Caucasus mountains to the north, Salyers said: “Obviously the countryside is absolutely beautiful.”

Cpl. Georgi Adaze, 21, who joined Georgia’s 4th Infantry Brigade seven months ago, said he enjoyed working with the American troops. “I am ready to serve my country and get military experience,” he said, in an interview closely monitored by two Georgian military officers.

Georgia, which was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of the Soviet Union, has angered Russia by seeking NATO membership — a bid Moscow regards as part of a Western effort to weaken its influence in the region.

In January, Georgian defense officials began to phase out use of the Russian-designed Kalashnikov rifle and introduce the American M-16. Georgian troops were training mostly with American weapons on two gunnery ranges Friday. Many NATO countries use the M-16.

Georgia’s government also decided earlier this year to increase the size of its armed forces from about 32,000 to 37,000.

Russia, meanwhile, has strengthened ties in recent months to the two Georgian separatist regions, which Saakashvili has pledged to bring back under Tbilisi’s control. No U.N. member state recognizes Abkhazia or South Ossetia’s claims to sovereignty.

The current round of tensions have led to clashes in recent months between Georgian authorities and separatists, including a July 9 skirmish on Abkhazia’s de-facto border that injured two Abkhaz separatist troops and three Georgian policemen.

Russian fighter jets circled over South Ossetia during a visit to Tbilisi by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier this month. Later, Georgia threatened to shoot down any Russian planes that violated its air space.

The same day Immediate Response began, the Russian military announced that it had launched its own military training exercise in its nearby North Caucasus region. A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry denied there was any connection between those exercises and the U.S.-Georgian training effort.