Georgia

National Defence Minister Mircea Dusa in Tbilisi on Monday met Georgia's President Giorgi Margvelashvili, at the Presidential Administration Palace, on which occasion he appreciated the efforts and firm commitment of the Republic of Georgia for strengthening the cooperation with NATO, informs a National Defence Ministry (MApN) press release.

Bulgaria has withdrawn its weightlifting team from next month's European championship after 11 athletes failed a doping test.

"Bulgarian athletes will not participate in any international events" until the case is cleared, the AP quoted the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation as saying.

A Moscow-friendly Greece could paralyse NATO's ability to react to Russian aggression, former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski warned March 25.
      
Athens could use its veto to slow the alliance's response if Russia set its sights on its Baltic member states, he told Poland's Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
      

Eleven members of Bulgaria's weightlifting teams (men and women) have tested positive for a banned substance, which could prevent them from taking part in the European championship next month.

Russia and South Ossetia on Wednesday signed a Treaty on Alliance and Integration that calls for forming a common defence and security space between Moscow and Georgia's breakaway region.

Romania does not recognise the "so-called treaty of alliance and integration" which has just been signed between Russia and the South Ossetia Georgian separatist region, the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) said on Wednesday.

Photo credit: (c) Liviu SOVA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Turkish fighter jets intercepted a Russian plane which was flying parallel to Turkish air space over the Black Sea on March 15.

Turkish F-16 jets which took off from Band?rma and Merzifon air bases intercepted a Russian IL-20 plane, which later left Black Sea air space near Georgia, the General Staff said in a statement released pm its website.

Russia launches large-scale drills in south

MOSCOW -- Military exercises have been launched in Russia's southern regions and in Georgia's breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The drills are also carried out in Crimea, that was in 2014 reintegrated with Russia, Tanjug reported.

Tourism representatives have supported the idea to give Russian tourists the chance to enter Turkey with only their identity cards, rather than their passports.

Due to the economic crisis in Russia, there has recently been a decrease in the number of Russian tourists flowing into Turkey, as well as to some other countries.

The Voltaj band will represent Romania in the 2015 Eurovision contest with the song 'De la capat' (Over Again), after winning the national selection on Sunday night in Craiova (west of Bucharest).

Photo credit: (c) Ilie BUMBAC / AGERPRES FLOW

Voltaj got 24 points, with the specialized jury and public vote weighing 50 percent each.