Abkhaz Maneuvers Planned

Large-scale military maneuvers involving 6,000 reserve troops and aircraft will be held in Abkhazia on August 20-24, the deputy defense minister for the breakaway region, Zakan Nanba, said.

In comments posted on the Abkhaz leader?s website on August 2, Nanba said the exercises would be held in Ochamchire and at the Tsebelda training ground.

Defensive operations in mountainous terrain will be the focus of the excercises, he said.

The Tsebelda training ground is close to Upper Kodori Gorge. Nanba, however, insisted that the maneuvers had nothing to do with the situation in the Tbilisi-controlled gorge.

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