Pertaining to Noble Partner 2018 – multinational military exercises conducted in Georgia
Large-scale military exercises Noble Partner 2018, in which more than 3 000 soldiers from 13 NATO member states are participating, started in Georgia for the fourth time on August 01, 2018. The US aircraft and German armored vehicles are involved as well.
The multinational NATO exercises, which are characterized by significant increase in deliveries of arms and in the number of the contingent cause, serious concern in South Ossetia and are evident demonstration of the provocative course undertaken by NATO in unconditional support of the revanchist policy of Georgia, of the aspiration to legitimize military preparations near borders of the Republic of South Ossetia and of the deliberate escalation of the situation in the region.
It should be noted that these maneuvers coincide with the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the armed aggression of Georgia against South Ossetia. The NATO military instructors who trained and armed the Georgian army are not less responsible for the tragic consequences of August 2008. Just a month before the attack on South Ossetia armed forces of Georgia and the USA staged joint exercises Immediate Response 2008, which encouraged the Georgian leaders to “feats”.
Instead of making efforts in achieving a lasting peace the Georgian authorities persistently try to find a military solution to the conflict. The statement of Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili made at the opening ceremony of the exercises, when he told that the Georgian soldiers trained by Western instructors would peacefully restore the “territorial integrity”, is another confirmation of that fact. We would like to remind how the similar adventure ended for Georgia itself, when several hours prior to massive bombardment of Tskhinval on August 8, 2008 Michail Saakashvili, the unbalanced then-President of Georgia, assured of sincere love to the Ossetians.
Similar statements sound particularly cynical against the background of flat refusal of Georgia of conclusion of legally binding agreements with South Ossetia and Abkhazia on security guarantees, which is a key question at the GID. At the same time, while declining in every possible way its responsibility for the committed brutal crimes against the Ossetian people, Georgia is trying to rewrite the history. The Georgian-Ossetian war of 2008 became the culmination of the many-year-long military confrontation between Georgia and South Ossetia, when the people of South Ossetia fought for freedom and independence. And there was no aggression of Russia, but only coercion of Georgia to peace. It seems that the time has come for the operation on coercion to truth.
Taking into consideration the above mentioned facts South Ossetia is once again urging the Western partners of Georgia to draw conclusions and weigh up the consequences of August 2008 and consider all the possible negative consequences of reckless support to Georgia and its revanchist aspirations for the peace and stability in the region.
August 10, 2018, Tskhinval