Georgia has decided to skip the Defender multinational military exercise this year, the Georgian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Based on the goals and objectives of the [Georgian] Defense Forces, < ... > it has been decided to dedicate more efforts and resources to such international and national exercises that better serve these goals, including improving combat training, interoperability of units with units of NATO countries, exchange of experience and improvement of professional skills," the statement said.
The Defense Ministry said Georgia every year holds the multinational exercises Noble Partner and Agile Spirit, which involve US forces. Preparations are now underway for the latter.
Georgian troops have already taken part in four multinational exercises this year, which took place in Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Turkey. Later this year, Georgia plans to send its servicemen to exercises in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Estonia, the ministry said.
The Defender exercise kicked off on April 22 and is expected to last until June 23. It involves 7,800 US troops and 15,000 troops from 26 other countries.
