Georgia receives more than million dollars of US military aid

TBILISI, Oct 10 (AFP) - United States military equipment for the Georgian army worth more than a million dollars arrived here Sunday, the defence ministry said as the former Soviet republic prepared to send a 300-strong contingent to Iraq.
An American military transport arrived at an airfield near the capital Tbilisi with 1.1 million dollars (900,000 euros) worth of military aid, a ministry statement said.
The equipment included computers and uniforms for the Georgian battalion scheduled to join the US-led coalition in Iraq at the end of this month, replacing a 157-strong contingent.
"Hitherto we have not been able properly to equip our troops. Today supplies to Georgian forces have quadrupled," said Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili at a ceremony accepting the American equipment.
The Caucasian republic of Georgia became independent with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Its ties with the United States have strengthened further since US-educated lawyer Saakashvili became president this year.
But Georgia's ambitions to join NATO have caused concern to its neighbour Russia.
Washington has been vying with Russia for influence over Georgia, a nation of five million that possesses a vital oil pipeline due to take Caspian Sea oil to Western markets.
Saakashvili led the peaceful "rose revolution" late last year that forced veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze to step down.