The exercise is conducted at five training grounds and involves air force and air defense units totaling 600 servicemen.
Anatoly Zaitsev, a deputy defense minister of the self-proclaimed republic, said that the purpose of the exercise was "to practice repelling air attacks of a potential enemy."
Abkhazia warned the UN monitoring mission in the conflict zone about the locations and the schedule of the maneuvers, he said.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which proclaimed independence from Georgia in the 1990s, have contributed to tensions in relations between Russia and Georgia, which accuse one another of plans to unleash a new bloody conflict in the region and to annex territory, respectively.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who swept into power on the back of a "color" revolution in 2003, pledged to bring the self-proclaimed republics back into the fold. His defense minister has also said Georgian troops will celebrate New Year's day in the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali.
On October 13, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a Russian-sponsored draft resolution on Georgia, urging the ex-Soviet country to refrain from provocative actions in Abkhazia and calling for an extension of the Russian peacekeeping mission in the region until April 15, 2007.
