Caucasus-2012 exercises pose no threat to countries, blocs - Russian General Staff
MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Armed Forces' Caucasus-2012 exercises, set for September have nothing to do with the situation in neighboring states, including elections in Georgia, General Staff Deputy Chief Col. Gen. Alexander Postnikov said.
"Arrangements for these strategic command and staff exercises were made in 2011 and they come as a logical follow-up to previous exercises on a similar scale. They will not pose a threat to any countries or blocs," he said at a press conference at the Interfax central office on Tuesday.
"This exercise has no relation to events taking place in other countries, including in Georgia, it's our routine event," Postnikov said.
"To rule out possible speculation on this issue, we have removed the units from our military bases in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and even Armenia from the list of participants," the general said.