Rumsfeld Says Train-and-Equip Program in Russia’s Interest

(Tbilisi, June 23, Civil Georgia) – US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stated at the news briefing at the Foreign Press Center on June 21 that the implementation of the Georgia Train-and-Equip program (GTEP) is in everybody’s interest.

“I’ve discussed it with [Russian] Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. They have no problem with it at all. They’ve said so. We are involved in a relatively short period of time, period of months, helping to train a number of people in Georgia so that they can do a better job with respect to their police work and their border work and their anti-terrorist work,” Donald Rumsfeld said.

“It is in Georgia’s interest; it’s in Russia’s interest that the border area not be a haven for terrorists. So it has not been a problem, not withstanding the fact that some people would wish that it were,” the US Defense Secretary stated.