By James Blitz in London (Financial Times)
About 1,000 troops and government officials on Wednesday began taking part in Nato-led military exercises in Georgia that Russia condemned as "muscle flexing", but which the western alliance insists are no threat to any state in the region.
The exercises take place a day after Georgia said ithad quelled a mutiny at an army base which it claimed was part of a Kremlin-orchestrated plot to disrupt the Nato event.
The exercises involve personnel from the 28 Nato members and from regional states that are not formally part of the alliance but co-operate with it under its "partnership for peace" programme.
They are being held at a former Russian air force base east of Tbilisi and a few kilometres from the Mukhrovani base, where the government said tank commanders had rebelled on Tuesday.
Although described by the media as a "war game", Nato officials say it falls short of that. A first phase of the exercise, involving 650 officials, involves simulating a "crisis response" at a Georgian army base east of Tbilisi...
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