Defence & Arms
Troops Enter Caucasus for Exercises
By Associated Press 30/6/09
Jun 30, 2009 - 8:27:45 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