VICE-PRESIDENT Mike Pence said the US “strongly” supports Georgia’s ambition of joining North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), even as Russia remains hostile to the military alliance expanding its influence in Moscow’s former Soviet backyard. “We see Georgia as a key strategic partner and stand by your territorial integrity and your aspirations to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” Mr. Pence said at talks with Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, on Tuesday. US President Donald J. Trump “asked me to extend greetings to you this morning and to say we are with you,” Mr. Pence said. The vice-president is due to attend joint military exercises involving as many as 800 Georgian and 1,600 US troops during his visit. The Noble Partner 2017 drills, which also include German, UK, Turkish, Slovenian, Ukrainian and Armenian forces, are the largest in the Caucasus republic since Georgia fought a brief war with Russia in 2008 over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia wants to join NATO against opposition from Russia, whose annexation of Crimea and involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine has strained ties with the US and Europe the most since the Cold War. — Reuters
