NATO,Georgia to integrate radars this year-Tbilisi

TBILISI, Aug 23 (Reuters) Georgia's radars will likely be integrated into NATO's radar system by the end of this year, earlier than planned because of worries about Russian activities, the Georgian Defence Ministry said today.

''Recent incidents prompted discussions in Brussels, at NATO headquarters, to speed up these procedures, so that Georgia is incorporated into that system as soon as possible,'' Georgian Deputy Defence Minister Batu Kuteliya told Reuters. ''They should probably be finished late this autumn.'' The announcement came a day after Georgia accused Russian aircraft of trespassing earlier this week into its airspace and two weeks after it accused a Russian jet of dropping a missile on its soil. Moscow has dismissed the allegations as nonsense.

Integration of Georgia's radars into the NATO system will mean that NATO controllers will have real-time information about any incursions into Georgian airspace, Kuteliya said in an interview.

Reuters AM GC1917