UKRAINIAN-GEORGIAN-AZERBAIJANI MILITARY EXERCISE UNDERWAY.

Ukrainian, Georgian and Azerbaijani staff officers and commando units began yesterday a joint exercise in the Supsa-Poti area of Georgia. The exercise, to culminate on April 19, is designed as joint practice in providing security to oil pipelines and terminals. A Ukrainian army unit, experienced in that type of mission will share its skills with inexperienced Georgian and Azerbaijani units (Turan, UNIAN, April 13; Eastern Economist Daily (Kyiv), April 14).

Its theme, locale and participants make this exercise–decided upon during defense ministry meetings in Baku and Tbilisi in January and February–a historic premiere (see the Monitor, January 22, March 19). The exercise is timed to coincide with the official inauguration of the Supsa maritime terminal for the export of Azerbaijani oil. Presidents Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine, Haidar Aliev of Azerbaijan and Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia are scheduled to attend the ceremony on April 17, along with senior United States officials and oil company executives. The Baku-Supsa pipeline is the first export route for Caspian oil to bypass Russia.

PROGRESS ON TRANS-CASPIAN GAS PIPELINE AND TURKMEN-TURKISH RELATIONS.