First group of US Marines arrives in Georgia to train its troops.

TBILISI, August 15 (Itar-Tass) - The first group of U.S. Marines will
arrive in Georgia on Saturday to help train its troops for a mission
alongside coalition forces in Afghanistan, the U.S. Embassy in Georgia
said.

Next spring Georgia's battalion will be deployed in Afghanistan. The
training will focus on skills necessary for the troops to operate in
Afghanistan.
The training program will begin on September 1 and no weapons will be
provided to the Georgian battalion as a part of training, the embassy said
without disclosing how many Marines will arrive in Georgia.
On August 11, London's Financial Times newspaper reported that the
United States would send 85 Marines to train a Georgian battalion. On
August 6, Georgia's Defence Ministry said in 2010 a Georgian battalion
would be sent to Afghanistan for a mission under the command of the U.S.
contingent. "Another one hundred of Georgia's servicemen will be deployed
in Afghanistan this autumn for a mission under the command of the French
contingent," the ministry said.
In June 2007 Georgia applied for NATO's membership with a proposal to
send its troops to Afghanistan. This proposal was approved at the NATO
summit in Bucharest in April 2008. Georgia has already participated in the
mission in Afghanistan. In the autumn of 2004 fifty Georgian servicemen
were deployed there.


.Information on missing ship detection not proved - Russian envoy.

MOSCOW, August 15 (Itar-Tass) - The information about the Arctic Sea
dry cargo vessel being found out 400 miles off Cape Verde has not been
proved, said Russia's ambassador in Cape Verde, Alexander Karpushin.
"I met with the country's authorities, in particular with the chief of
the General Staff of Cape Verde's Armed Forces, who did not confirm the
information that the ship had been detected. Nevertheless, he instructed
the ports do not take any actions without a special notification if the
ship appears and asks for refueling, food commodities or water," he told
the Vesti news channel.
"We've agreed that if some additional information emerges, he would at
once inform the embassy about this," the diplomat said.
On Friday, the French mass media reported with reference to Cape Verde'
s coastal guard that the Arctic Sea is staying 400 miles off Cape Verde.
A high-ranking military official in Brussels told Itar-Tass the ship
was found, but its location is kept secret for security reasons. He
declined to comment on the reports about detection of the ship off Cape
Verde.
According to South Africa's SAPA news agency, the Arctic Sea was found
750 kilometers off Cape Verde and was traced by the coastal guard.
The Arctic Sea with the Russian crew on board headed for Algeria's
port to deliver timber cargo on August 4. The contact with the vessel was
lost off the Portuguese coast on July 28.




.Russia grants over $3 mln for Nicaragua's mine-clearing operations.

MEXICO, August 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russia granted 3.5 million dolla
MEXICO, August 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russia granted 3.5 million dollars to
Nicaragua for launching mine-clearing operations in remote and
hard-to-reach regions, Russian ambassador in Nicaragua, Igor Kondrashev,
told Itar-Tass by phone on Friday.
This aid is provided in compliance with the agreement signed by the
director-general of the federal a gency for support and coordination of
Russian participation in international humanitarian operations ( EMERCOM),
Oleg Belaventsev, and Nicaraguan Army General Unberto Calderon.
"The funds will be earmarked for buying necessary equipment and
materials as well as for mine-clearing operations in the country's north
that will be conducted by Nicaragua's servicemen and EMERCOM experts," he
said.
Two Russian specialists had already arrived in Nicaragua. Next week
another six experts will come. The expert group will further increase.
"All regions where the operations will be conducted are hard-to-reach
and mountainous and it is difficult to demine these areas. Many civilians
live in these regions, and anti-personnel landmines pose a direct threat
to these people. From time to time civil population dies and gets injuries
from mine explosions. During heavy rains mines are washed out from the
ground and taken to agricultural fields," the diplomat said.
"Unfortunately, no documents are left that can help to demine the
area," he said.
Experts say in the 1980s during Nicaragua's internal armed conflict
over 179,000 mines were installed. Since 1989 when the mine-clearing
operations were launched 174,875 mines have already been cleared.

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