Russia is concerned about US Georgia military drills

Moscow is concerned about the ongoing joint Georgian-U.S. military exercises, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday. "These annual drills, which our U.S. partners explain as training for operations in Afghanistan, actually concern us," ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in an online comment. "We believe that any foreign military assistance to Tbilisi, however it is motivated, complicates the prospective of peace and stability in the region," the diplomat said. He stressed that Tbilisi categorically refuses to accept the new political realities after a military conflict with Russia in August 2008. The "Agile Spirit 2013" Georgian-U.S. military exercises started at the Georgian Defense Ministry's Vaziani base on Monday and would run till March 29. The base was a target of Russian air strikes during the August 2008 armed conflict over South Ossetia, a Georgian breakaway region.