A PARATROOPER from Wantage has joined a major multinational military exercise on Russia's doorstep.

Corporal Caz Laycock is one of 2,800 soldiers from eight countries taking part in Exercise Noble Partner in Georgia.

The formal King Alfred's, Wantage, pupil is helping train Georgian soldiers to carry out vehicle check points and search people.

Both armies are also getting joint training with the US Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade to 'deepen understanding of the kit and capabilities of British and US airborne forces'.

British and US forces launched their public joint training exercises in Russia's next door neighbour last year, two years after Russia annexed the neighbouring Ukrainian territory of Crimea just a stone's throw over the Black Sea.

Cpl Laycock, of C (Bruneval) Company, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, said that working with the different armies was about 'finding a middle ground'.

The 31-year-old said: "I gave a lesson to the Georgians about VCPs [vehicle checkpoints] and they were engaged and asked lots of questions, then they demonstrated their techniques to us.

"It’s about each of us looking at our slightly different tactics to deal with the same situation and learning from each other."

Cpl Laycock and his fellow troops are stationed on the Vaziani mountain ranges near the capital Tbilisi, just 60km from the border with the former Georgian territory of South Ossetia, which Russia has occupied since the 2008 Russo-Georgian War.

When Exercise Noble Partner launched last year, the Russian foreign ministry accused the United States of indulging the 'revanchist [retaliatory] desires of Tbilisi'.

Georgia's Prime Minister, Georgy Kvirikashvili, however, strongly denied the charge, responding: "These exercises are not directed against anyone. There is no trace of provocation."

The Army has said the exercise 'aims to develop the ability of NATO armies to respond together to emerging crises, while training Georgian troops to serve with the NATO Response Force'.