Georgian and Ukrainian troops neutralized simulated suicide bombers and a "mock mob" at Vaziani military base near Georgia's capital Tbilisi May 31, rounding up month-long NATO-led military exercises that have angered Russia. Troops from two other members of members of NATO's Partnership for Peace program—Macedonia and Bosnia—also participated. (AP, May 31)

As the exercises got underway in early May, Georgia claimed to have foiled a Russian-backed plot to stage a military coup. A tank battalion apparently mutinied at a base in Mukhrovani, 20 miles east of Tbilisi, and the Defense Ministry ordered the base sealed off. President Mikheil Saakashvili was also at that moment facing a sustained protest campaign from opposition parties demanding his resignation. (London Times, May 5)

See our last posts on Georgia and the struggle for the Caucasus.

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