TBILISI/SUKHUMI, August 15 (RIA Novosti) - Military exercises will be held in the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia in western Georgia throughout this week, Abkhazian Defense Minister Sultan Sosnaliyev said Monday.
Sosnaliyev said these would be the biggest exercises in the "postwar period" (since the end of the Georgian-Abkhaz military conflict in early 1990s, when Tbilisi unsuccessfully attempted to return Abkhazia to the Georgian fold).
In all, about 6,000 men will be involved in the exercise, with reservists joining regular troops.
Firing exercises and an amphibious landing operation will be held. Sosnaliyev said the exercises aimed to practice tactical and field missions, to eliminate a hypothetical enemy making an amphibious landing, and to use the reserve to repel attacks both from the sea and mountains.
The defense minister said three motorized rifle brigades, a motorized rifle regiment, Air Force and Navy units and artillery units would be used in the exercises. The Abkhazian Defense Ministry holds similar war games every year.
