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Last Updated: Jun 30, 2009 - 8:28:45 AM |
The Caucasus 2009 war games are being seen by many experts as a direct
threat to nearby Georgia, where the government says it has rearmed
armed forces and where NATO recently wrapped up its own exercises.
Experts say the exercises may also be a signal to the United States
that Russia will give no ground in its efforts to maintain its sphere
of influence in former Soviet republics. The exercise runs through July
6, the day that President Barack Obama arrives in Moscow for a summit
with President Dmitry Medvedev.
Defense Ministry officials say more than 8,500 troops will take part,
along with nearly 200 tanks, armored vehicles, 100 artillery units and
several units from the Black Sea Fleet.
The exercises, which are being personally overseen by General Nikolai
Makarov, chief of the General Staff, are structured around a
theoretical crisis situation that spirals out of control into open
fighting, the Defense Ministry said.
Former Kremlin adviser Andrei Illarionov told reporters that if Russia
were to take military action against Georgia, it would take place
directly after Obama's visit and that Moscow would portray its decision
as having been made with Washington's approval.
In Tbilisi, Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Nalbandov called
the exercises a "dangerous provocation."
Source:Ocnus.net 2009
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