Georgia opens tank training zone in new NATO training centre

   (24 Today) --- Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 and supports two breakaway regions in the country

   The Georgian Defense Ministry opened a new area for tank training near a military base outside the capital, Tbilisi.

   The facility is part of a new NATO training center, opening later this month, at which NATO personnel will train troops from partner countries including Georgia.

   Georgia's efforts to join NATO have been stalled since its 2008 conflict with Russia, and it has made limited progress in rebuilding its armed forces since then.

   Georgian Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli says her country is successfully "conducting a diplomatic war" with Russia, but can only reach Tbilisi's "ultimate goal - the restoration of its territorial integrity" by completing the country's integration with the European Union.

   Khidasheli told RFE/RL in an exclusive interview on July 22 that while "Russia is losing all of its bridgeheads" in diplomatic circles, "Georgia is gaining new friends."

   She said Georgia will continue to "move gradually towards European integration, and no provocation can stop or slow this process."

   Accusing Russian military forces of "occupation" in Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Khidasheli said Tbilisi expected that "Russian soldiers themselves" will restore the borders of Georgia to their 1992 positions after the country's integration into the "European family."

   Russian troops have remained in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, backing the self-proclaimed governments there, since the Russian-Georgian war in August 2008.