"Heading for militarization": how the military exercises Agile Spirit in Georgia with the participation of NATO countries will be held

On Monday, July 26, the international multinational military exercises Agile Spirit began in Georgia with the participation of NATO countries and their partners.

More than 2.5 thousand military men from 15 states, including the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Spain and the Baltic countries, will be involved in the maneuvers.

“The Agile Spirit international multinational military exercise is celebrating its anniversary.

These maneuvers will be held in Georgia for the tenth time.

This year, these largest multinational military exercises will be held from July 26 to August 6, ”the Ministry of Defense of the republic said.

As noted in the department, Agile Spirit 2021 allegedly "promotes regional stability and security", and also strengthens the potential of the member countries of the alliance and their partners in the issue of "more effective response to regional crises and challenges."

"The goal of the Agile Spirit 2021 exercise is to increase the interoperability of the military forces of NATO member countries and their partners, to improve and strengthen operational capabilities during the planning and execution of real-time operations in multinational operations, and to improve multinational cooperation in the fields of combat readiness and security." said in a statement by the Georgian Defense Ministry.

It also emphasizes that Agile Spirit this year is "unique and on a larger scale."

In particular, it is reported that for the first time in international multinational exercises, armored vehicles of Georgian production Didgori Meomari and Didgori MedEvac will be used.

In addition, according to the republic's defense ministry, the training ground "has a large scale" and will cover five locations - the military base of the 2nd Infantry Brigade in Senaki, the Sorta / Eki training ground, the Orfololo and Vaziani training grounds, and the Vaziani military airfield ...

Moreover, it is emphasized that for the first time in the history of multinational exercises taking place in Georgia, within the framework of Agile Spirit 2021, a joint airborne operation will be carried out with the participation of Georgian, American, British and Polish military.

“Another innovation of the tenth Agile Spirit exercises is the special forces exercise.

For the first time in the history of multinational maneuvers conducted in Georgia, special forces from Georgia, the USA, Great Britain, Romania and Poland will conduct joint operations at the updated and modernized training ground of Sorta, ”the Georgian Defense Ministry said in a statement. 

"Arena of unnecessary confrontation"

The Agile Spirit exercises are far from the first maneuvers in the Black Sea region in which NATO countries are involved.

So, in March, the coast guard of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the warships of the North Atlantic Alliance held joint naval exercises in the Black Sea.

As specified in the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the purpose of these maneuvers was to increase the level of coordination between the naval units of Georgia and the member countries of the alliance.

From the end of May to the beginning of June, NATO states Noble Jump 2021 training took place on the territory of Romania and Bulgaria, in which about 4 thousand troops from 12 countries were involved.

• NATO symbols

• Reuters

• © Yves Herman

Later, the Sea Breeze 2021 maneuvers took place. The Russian Embassy in the United States emphasized the scale and "clearly aggressive nature of the exercises", which, according to the diplomatic mission, does not correspond to the real security objectives in the Black Sea region.

Moscow also called on Washington and its allies to "abandon the practice of military operations in the Black Sea."

In addition, at the end of June, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Sea Breeze "provocative actions" and "the history of Ukraine's pumping of weapons."

After that, on July 12, the Ukrainian-British maneuvers Cossack Mace 2021 ("Cossack Bulava") started in southern Ukraine.

They were also attended by NATO countries, including the United States and Canada.

About 2 thousand servicemen and more than 300 units of military equipment were involved in the training. 

In addition, Kiev and Washington are planning to conduct joint Rapid Trident maneuvers, which, according to Ukrainian media, are scheduled for September.

More than 4 thousand military personnel from NATO countries and partner countries will take part in them.

As reported in the State Border Service of Ukraine, these exercises will be "revolutionary".

As Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said at the end of June, the Black Sea region is turning into an "arena of absolutely unnecessary military confrontation" due to the fact that the North Atlantic Alliance is consistently increasing its presence along the Russian borders.

According to Grushko, Russia "cannot but worry."

He also noted that such actions of the alliance "call into question the relevance of the most fundamental document - the Russia-NATO act."

“The question cannot but arise as to how, say, constant rotation differs from a permanent presence,” added the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"Curry favor" with Western partners "

According to experts, the Agile Spirit exercises, as well as other maneuvers with the participation of NATO countries in the Black Sea region, should be viewed as a certain way of putting pressure on Russia, as well as a demonstration of the intentions of the United States and the alliance not to reduce the degree of tension in this region.

“The exercises in Georgia cannot be viewed separately from the NATO activities in Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania.

All these maneuvers, despite the fact that they can be of different levels and different intensities, serve the same purpose - to increase tensions at the Russian borders, "said military expert Ivan Konovalov in a conversation with RT.

In his opinion, NATO is also carefully studying the situation along the Russian borders, including in order to determine where exactly it is possible to arrange provocations most effectively.

"Russia has quite long sea borders in the Black Sea region, and NATO needs to somehow strengthen control in this region, using the territorial location of Georgia, Ukraine and other countries," Konovalov explained.

• Flags of Georgia and the United States during an Agile Spirit exercise, August 9, 2019

• Reuters

• © Irakli Gedenidze

He also added that the bloc needs a combined airborne operation with the participation of the military from Georgia and NATO countries during Agile Spirit in order to "work out the system of creating bridgeheads."

“In the Black Sea region, this is extremely important, since any rapid deployment of US and NATO forces will require airborne assault operations.

We are talking about a landing in a given area in order to form a bridgehead there for the accumulation of forces and means, as well as for the further deployment of troops.

The territories of Georgia and Ukraine are the best suited for working out such tasks, ”says Konovalov.

As the leading expert of the RISS Research Coordination Center, Sergei Ermakov, stated in an interview with RT, recently NATO has really stepped up its activities in the Black Sea region.

“Moreover, the alliance does not hide this, shares this kind of information at briefings and summits.

As for the countries of the region, which so want to conduct maneuvers with the participation of NATO member states, in this way they are trying to "curry favor" with their Western partners.

However, despite all efforts, neither Georgia nor Ukraine has yet opened the road to the alliance, "Yermakov said in an interview with RT.

Nevertheless, as Yermakov stressed, all these aspects ultimately work to ensure that NATO develops its "course of militarizing the Black Sea region", confrontation and further cooling of relations with Russia.