A team from NATO's Defense Planning Division has been to Georgia to assess Georgia's requirements in defense planning, said the spokesman, adding that the trip was long planned in the context of NATO's Partnership for Peace program with Georgia.
"NATO will not be, as an organization, supplying weapons or arms to Georgia. What NATO can do and what NATO is doing is assisting the Georgians in defining their own defense capabilities," said Appathurai.
Individual nations might provide weapons to Georgia, he said.
He said NATO will also help Georgia build up capabilities to see what is going on in its air space.
NATO's decision-making North Atlantic Council, in its visit to Georgia in mid-September, will listen to Georgia's participation in a so-called air situation data-exchange system, which enables the share of information.
With this system, which was linked last week, Georgia will have an insight in its "air picture" and NATO will also have access to data gathered by Georgian radars, said Appathurai.
"The air situation data-exchange system will support the safety of air transit in Georgia," he said.
But the spokesman said there is no discussion of deploying a NATO Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) plane in Georgia. AWACS planes are equipped with an early warning system to provide airborne surveillance and command and control functions.
The North Atlantic Council will also officially launch a trust fund in Georgia designed to assist in the development of Georgia's defense capabilities. Several NATO allies have signed up to this project, said Appathurai.
NATO has also dispatched a civil emergency planning support team to Georgia to assess damage to civil infrastructure in the five-day war between Georgia and Russia.
Georgia launched on Aug. 7 attack on South Ossetia, which has enjoyed de facto independence since 1992, in an attempt to retake control of the region. Russia sent troops into the region on the next day and defeated Georgian forces.
The West accused Russia of bullying its small neighbor. But Moscow argued that its military operations were intended to protect civilians and enforce peace in the region.
Russia's recognition of the two regions as independent states last week further enraged the West.
