Tbilisi Protests Against Abkhaz Maneuvers

Five-day large-scale military exercises with the participation of 6,000 servicemen were launched in the breakaway Abkhazia on August 15, Abkhaz and Russian news agencies reported.

The Russian online news service Kavkazky Uzel quoted Defense Minister of breakaway Abkhazia Sultan Sosnaliev as saying that maneuvers with the participation of armored vehicles, artillery, the navy and air force will take place in various locations around Abkhazia ?except the zone of security and the zone of restricted armament? envisaged by the Georgian-Abkhaz ceasefire agreement.

But Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava has already expressed protest regarding these maneuvers, claiming that military exercises are taking place in a zone of restricted armament, specifically, the Ochamchire district of the breakaway region.

Alexander Kazantsev, the Chief of Staff of the Russian peacekeeping forces, said that training ground in Nagvalou in the Ochamchire district, where the final stage of the maneuvers are planned for August 19, is indeed located in the zone of restricted armament.

?But the Georgian side is also regularly holding military exercises in this zone and we have called on the sides several times to re-consider the agreements [setting the borders of the zone of restricted armament],? Kazantsev told Kavkazky Uzel.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian)