Georgia ‘foils Russia-backed coup’ on eve of Nato exercises
May 5, 2009 by Tariq under World News
<
Georgia claimed today to have foiled a Russian-backed plot to stage a military coup on the eve of joint exercises with Nato troops.
An Interior Ministry spokesman announced that the special services had uncovered a plot to topple the Government involving a former high-ranking officer at the Defence Ministry.
A tank battalion had mutinied at a base in Mukhrovani, 20 miles east of Tbilisi, and was refusing to obey orders, the Defence Ministry said.
The dramatic development comes a day before Georgia hosts three weeks of military exercises with Nato that Russia has condemned as provocative so soon after the war over the breakaway region of South Ossetia in August last year.
