At the Georgian military base Senaki, servicemen from 10 countries, NATO members and Alliance partners began Sunday on a ten-day command-and-staff exercise "Agile Spirit-2018", Radio Liberty reports..

In the ten-day command post exercise there are 237 soldiers from the USA, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Greece, Ukraine, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Georgia itself. The exercises are conducted at a military base, which in August 2008 was almost completely destroyed by Russian troops invading western Georgia from Abkhazia.

Previous military exercises "A worthy partner" (Noble Partner-2018) with the participation of a number of NATO states, ended in mid-August.

Georgia is on the third, penultimate stage of preparations for integration into NATO.

Opening the exercises, the Georgian Defense Minister described the current combat capability of the Georgian army as a "strategic readiness".

During the exercise, the readiness of military brigades to respond to crises or to conduct joint operations within the NATO Rapid Reaction Force.

The US Army officers coordinate the exercises with the assistance of the NATO training center in Georgia and with the participation of the local command of the forces of aviation, air defense and the Coast Guard Forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Agile Spirit exercise is held annually in Georgia since 2011. Last year, seven countries participated in them.