WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military has accounted for the more than 100 US military trainers in Georgia and is closely following an outbreak of hostilities between Russian and Georgian forces, US military officials said Friday.
"We have upwards of 100 military trainers who are in Georgia now. We've been able to account for all of them," said Lieutenant Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US European Command.
"They are not involved in any way in this conflict between the Russian military and the Georgian military," he told AFP.
Georgia is the third largest troop contributor to the US-led coalition in Iraq and the US military has a longstanding program to train their forces.
He said the command's European plans and operations center has been monitoring the situation in South Ossetia, the flashpoint for the conflict between Russian and Georgian militaries.
"What they do in a situation like this is contact the embassy, contact our troops there, assess the situation, and begin to receive any information or request for support from the embassy, or any reports about US citizens being in danger."
"At this point we are early in the hostilities. The situation is sort of dynamic at this point," he said.
The outbreak of fighting also was being closely watched at the Pentagon, said a US military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"We're obviously very concerned. We are watching it closely," said the official. "We are looking at the situation, and how it develops. It's still early."