MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia considers the opening of a NATO training center in Georgia to be a provocative move, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
"We see this move as a continuation of the alliance's provocative policy, which aims to expand its geopolitical influence, often using the resources of its partner states," ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.
The opening, on Thursday, of the training center in Georgia is part of broader measures to assist Georgia in its effort to join NATO, whose proposed membership was approved in principle at the alliance's summit in Wales in September 2014.
NATO has been reinforcing its military presence in Eastern Europe since the outbreak of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine in April 2014.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that NATO's military expansion toward the country's western frontier is a threat to regional and, ultimately, global security.
