World

500 Georgian Tank Battalion Troops Launch Mutiny

by Rob Walker | May 5, 2009 at 05:30 am

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At least 500 troops are involved in a mutiny in Georgia near the central city of Gori. President Mikheil Saakashvili called on the members of the tank battalion to surrender. Officials say the mutiny is part of an attempted coup linked to Russia, who says the charges are 'mad'.

The coup could endanger military exercises by NATO near Tbilisi, which were planned to begin on Wednesday. They said the plan was to organize riots across Georgia, which they could then turn into a full-scale military coup.

Tanks and armoured personnel carriers are on the way to the military base while negotiations continue with the rogue battalion.

Russia's envoy to Nato described the charges as "mad". The trouble comes a day before Nato exercises in Georgia.
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has condemned Nato for planning military exercises in a country "where there was just a war".

Georgia and Russia have poisonous relations, and fought a war over Georgia's breakaway territory of South Ossetia last August.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili called on about 500 mutineers at a military base near the central city of Gori to surrender and said talks are under way with the organizers of the rebellion.

“This is a serious challenge, and we accept this challenge,” Saakashvili said today in comments broadcast live on Georgian television. The former Soviet republic’s remaining military installations are “under control,” he said.