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Russia on Monday started its biggest military exercises in the Caucasus since its war with neighbouring Georgia last year, mobilising thousands of troops in a clear warning to its foes.

Georgia swiftly condemned as "dangerous" the week-long exercises, which are taking place just north of where Russia and Georgia fought over the pro-Moscow breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.

About 8,500 troops are participating in the "Caucasus 2009" exercises and up to 200 tanks, 450 armoured cars and 250 artillery pieces of various types, according to the Russian defence ministry.

It added that the war game focusing on counter-terrorism and the defence of strategic targets will run until July 6 — the day US President Barack Obama arrives for a much anticipated summit in Moscow.

"The aim of the exercises is to establish the actual state of battle readiness and troop mobilisation deployed in Russia’s southwest region," local military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Bobrun told Russian news agencies.

A high-ranking military source was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying that Georgia was still seeking "military adventures" and had rebuilt its military capacity to the same level as last August.

"The current Georgian leadership has not given up on new military adventures… or attempts to resolve its territorial problems through the use of force," the source said.

Taking aim at Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, the source added: "The exercises will certainly contribute to stability in the south of Russia and the Caucasus as a whole and cool down the fantasies of some warmongers."

Russian troops now based in the Georgian rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia will also participate in the exercises, the defence ministry said.

Georgia’s deputy foreign minister Alexander Nalbandov told AFP that holding such large-scale exercises "is dangerous and is playing with fire."

"This is aimed at further increasing tensions in the region," he said.

Moscow has thousands of soldiers deployed in the rebel regions, which it recognized as independent states last year after the brief war. It also formally took over control this year of the breakaway regions’ de-facto borders with Georgia.

The exercises involve more troops than the Caucasus 2008 war games and include units from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and its airforce.

Some 8,000 troops took part in last year’s manoeuvres, which wrapped up shortly before the Russia-Georgia conflict broke.

Russia’s envoy to NATO said the 2008 war games had helped Russia to mobilise for the August war.

"The fact that we carried out these military exercises last year turned out to be absolutely right. If we had not… Russia’s reaction would have been much slower," Dmitry Rogozin told reporters.

"We are doing this to strengthen the defence capabilities of the Russian armed forces and Russia as a whole in those directions which we consider threatening."

While Russia and NATO at the weekend ended a 10-month freeze in cooperation amid fallout from the Georgia war, severe divisions on the small West-leaning state remain.

Moscow is extremely suspicious of the Western alliance’s expansion eastward and livid that the military bloc — with strong US backing — has left open the door to Georgia’s membership.

Despite the small scale of NATO’s war games in Georgia in May and this month — which involved about 1,100 troops from 16 countries — Russia fiercely denounced the exercises.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pinpointed those exercises as "a step backwards" in efforts to reset US-Russia relations, a development set to culminate with Obama’s visit next week.

AFP | Monday, June 29, 2009