NATO beginning airforce war games in former Soviet Baltic republics.

BRUSSELS, March 17 (Itar-Tass) - NATO begins airforce war games
codenamed Baltic Regional Training Event /BRTE/ in the skies of the three
former Soviet Baltic republics - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, James
Appathurai, the official spokesman of the North-Atlantic pact said Tuesday.
He said the war games, held for the fifth time, have been scheduled in
advance and their objective is to improve compatibility of NATO's aerial
and ground-based units based in the region.
Another stated objective of the BRTE is to demonstrate solidarity of
the pact's member-states.
Appathurai gave the assurances that full information on the war games
was provided to Russia in advance.
He said the ambassador of a Baltic nation personally handed in all the
necessary information to the Russian ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin,
in Brussels.
The data available indicates the war games will involve the French
Mirage 2000C multi-role combat fighters, the Lithuanian L-39 Albatros
trainer aircraft, the Polish F-16 fighter aircraft, and a U.S. refueling
jet.
The program includes joint maneuvers, in-flight refueling, as well as
collective training in jet maintenance and Baltic countries' ground
services interaction.
All the flights will be made from Estonia's capital Tallinn.
NATO aircraft have been patrolling the airspace of the former Soviet
Baltic republics on the basis of rotation since 2004.