TBILISI. March 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Several U.S. military specialists have arrived in Georgia with the mission to train special units of the Georgian army; the rest will arrive in the near future, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said in a radio interview on Monday.
"The American military specialists will be involved in establishment of exemplary units capable of combating terrorism efficiently," Shevardnadze said. Four battalions and a company of that kind will be established in Georgia, according to data available to Interfax-Military News Agency.
Shevardnadze stressed that the U.S. military aid does not envisage conduction of any anti-terrorist operation in Georgia. "The aid aims to enable Georgia to maintain its sovereignty and protect its borders from any kind of intrusion in the future," the president added.
According to him, Georgia is planning to use the U.S. assistance to raise the funds and materiel for arming and equipping its army. At the same time "the Georgian-U.S. cooperation takes place on the basis of open and transparent agreements which were registered several years ago under the auspices of the NATO Partnership for Peace program," Shevardnadze said.
The Georgian president recalled that he "seriously discussed" Georgian security at the talks with President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during his visit to the United States. "That is when Georgia requested the U.S. assistance in establishment and modernization of the national armed forces; otherwise, Georgia's independence could have been put in jeopardy," Shevardnadze stressed.
"Georgia will accept similar help from Russia with appreciation," he added.