20:00, 18 April 2009

Abkhazia to hold exercises in response to Georgia's ones

In response to NATO's military exercises in Georgia, planned in the territory of Georgia from May 6 to June 1, 2009, Abkhazia will hold its own ones, as Republic's President Sergey Bagapsh has stated.

"The NATO's exercises planned in May-June in Georgia shouldn't contribute to stabilization in the Caucasus," Mr Bagapsh told journalists in Moscow on April 17. "We'll hold ours in response."

"By the start of NATO's exercises in Georgia, our borders will be additionally strengthened," the President has noted. Sergey Bagapsh has also stated that Abkhazia will build its own army. "The Abkhazian army will be self-sufficient, small and professional - about 10-15 thousand servicemen," the ITAR-TASS quotes the Abkhazian leader as saying.

Meanwhile, Dmitri Rogozin, permanent representative of Russia at the NATO, has named the multinational exercises of the Alliance in Georgia planned for early May to be "provocation, absurdity and madness" and stated that the exercises should be cancelled, as the "Gazeta.Ru" writes.