Cooperative 09 or more commonlyCooperative Longbow/Cooperative Lancer 09 is the name ofNATO military exercise held inGeorgia within the framework ofPartnership for Peace,Mediterranean Dialogue andIstanbul Cooperation Initiative programmes from May 6 until June 3, 2009. Exercises were conducted 30 km fromTbilisi at theVaziani military base. SpanishLieutenant General Cayetano Miro Valls was the commander of drills.[1] Cooperative exercises are held annually in order to help NATO and its allies to maintain high level of cooperation during crisis response operations.[2]
1100 soldiers from 14 countries took part in exercise, including 9 NATO members (Albania,Canada,Croatia,Greece,Hungary,Spain,Turkey,United Kingdom and theUnited States) and 5PfP nations (Azerbaijan,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Macedonia,Georgia andUkraine). Initially 18 countries were supposed to take part, butArmenia,Moldova,Serbia andKazakhstan canceled their attendance in response totroop mutiny in Georgia.[3]
Exercises consist of two parts, Cooperative Longbow 09 and Cooperative Lancer 09.Longbow is a Command Post exercise (CPX) and is focused on training and exercising NATO staff skills in order to improve interoperability between NATO and partner nations during crisis response operations at the multinationalbrigade level.Lancer is designed to provide basic training on peace support operations at thebattalion level.
Russia strongly opposed to the drills in Georgia, Russian PresidentDmitry Medvedev referred to them as "an open provocation" and said the exercises were assisting Georgia's rearmament after theconflict with Russia over South Ossetia.[citation needed]
