Russia conducts drills in Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali region
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Russia’s 4th Infantry Brigade is conducting military drills in Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.
More than 2,500 soldiers, both from Russia and the region, and 500 military techniques are involved in the exercise, de facto Defence Ministry of Tskhinvali says.
The de facto Defence Ministry reports that such drills improve the knowledge and skills of soldiers.
Russia recognised Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent republics after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
The same has been done by only Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru and Syria.
The rest of the international community condemns Russia’s occupation of the Georgian territories and call upon Russia to withdraw its forces from historic Georgian lands.
The Russian 58th army is conducting drills in Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, with the involvement of local "operative groups and divisions”, Russian and Tskhinvali media reports.
Georgia is condemning the mass military drills initiated by Russia in the north Caucasus, in Crimea, in military bases in Armenia and in Georgia’s occupied regions and say the exercises are provocative and a "threat that has the potential to destabilize the region”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia is calling on the international community to adequately assess Russia’s military trainings on Georgia breakaway territory of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) and Abkhazia. More than 2,000 troops are currently participating in military trainings on Georgia’s two occupied territories.
"Georgia is an independent and sovereign state, which has the right to hold any kind of training on its territory,” Georgia’s Foreign Ministry says.
According to official data, 126 Georgian citizens were illegally detained by Russia-controlled border guards last year at the Georgia-breakaway Tskhinvali occupation line. In most cases detainees are released after paying a fine which amounts to about $30.
So-called border guards of Russian-occupied South Ossetia have detained three citizens of Georgia for ‘illegal border crossing’.
An investigative story of the Washington Post reads that the Georgian occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region has become a hidden financial crossroads for Russia’s shadow empire around the Black Sea.
The exercises are being conducted in Volgograd, Rostov, Stavropol, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Ossetia, Crimea, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Armenia.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze says that the increased militarisation of the two occupied regions of Georgia Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) by Russia is alarming and Georgia is in need of the support of the international community.
Russia is conducting military exercises in Georgia’s occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions, Russian media outlets report.