Five NATO ships, among them three assigned to the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group Two (SNMCMG2), entered the Batumi port on September 28, hosted by the Georgian Coast Guard.
The unit, led by Captain Javier Nuñez de Prado, consists of Spanish flagship ESPS Rayo, Italian ITS Viareggio and Turkish TCG Edincik, joined by Bulgarian BGS Shkval, Romanian ROS Lt. Lupu Dinescu.
The five vessels and the Georgian Coast Guard will hold joint exercises aiming to “increase the interoperability of the Georgian and NATO naval forces and strengthen our country’s defense capabilities,” the Interior Ministry stated.
The statement called regular visits by NATO naval units to Georgian ports “one of the tangible results of NATO-Georgia cooperation in terms of strengthening the Black Sea security.”
Allied Maritime Command stated on September 24 that the Group had entered the Black Sea to conduct maritime security patrols in international waters to enhance NATO maritime situational awareness between Allies and regional partners – Ukraine and Georgia.
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