NATO Drills Promote Georgia's Revanchism, Undermine Stability - S Ossetia

The NATO-Georgia military drills have a negative impact on the relative stability in the region and provoke a revanchist sentiment in Tbilisi, the Foreign Ministry of South Ossetia said Thursday.

TSKHINVALI (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the NATO-Georgia Exercise 2016 kicked off near Tbilisi, and will last through November 20. A total of 14 states, including 13 NATO members, sent their troops to the drills.

"Against the background of the continuing aggressive statements by Georgian politicians, the NATO drills in Georgia are regarded as the next destructive action to fuel tensions, because the number of troops and equipment involved in the drills grows each year, and whatever arguments are used, the drills make the most negative impact on the relative stability in the region," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the ministry, the drills demonstrate NATO's course of "unconditional support for Georgia's revanchist politics and a conscious undermining of the situation" in the region.

Georgia in not a NATO member, but has been seeking membership and cooperation with the alliance. In 2008, NATO supported Georgia's bid to join the Alliance, and established a commission to oversee the process of Georgian NATO accession.

In 2008, Georgia launched a military offensive against the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, ending in a five-day war with Russia. Both regions declared their independence from Georgia in the early 1990s and were recognized by Russia following the conflict. Georgia does not recognize South Ossetia as a discrete political entity.