TBILISI. June 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgia supports NATO's initiative to spread the Active Endeavor anti-terror operation to the Black Sea from 2006, a Georgian parliamentary official said.
"It is a very interesting idea. Any anti-terror operation must be welcomed," the Georgian parliament's foreign relations committee chairman Konstantin Gabashvili told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
He said Russia should participate in this operation on a par with the other Black Sea states. "It would be better if Russia backed this operation, as well," Gabashvili said.
Russia, meanwhile, does not think the Active Endeavor operation, being conducted in the Mediterranean Sea, should be extended to the Black Sea.
"I've always said it won't hurt anyone to be planning things. But we don't see any grounds for extending the mandate to the Black Sea," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in Brussels earlier in June.
He stressed that the Blackseafor naval operations force is operating in the Black Sea, and interception of illegal migrants, arms and man-portable surface-to-air missile systems is among its missions.
The idea to spread Active Endeavor to the Black Sea starting from 2006 was made public by Vice Admiral Ferdinando Sanfelice di Monteforte, commander of the NATO Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe.
The Active Endeavor operation was launched after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. Initially, control was exercised in Gibraltar and in the Suez Canal, but in March 2004 the area was extended to the whole of the Mediterranean Sea.
Turkey also strongly opposes plans to expand the NATO operation. Bulgaria, Romania, and Georgia support the plans. Ukraine has not made up its mind on this issue.