The Caucasus 2012 strategic command post exercises will be held in Russia’s Southern Military District from September 17 to 24. How are these drills connected to Georgia? Why is the Georgian Foreign Ministry panicking? Russia’s 4th Base in South Ossetia, 7th Base in Abkhazia and 104th Base in Armenia will not be taking part in the Caucasus exercises.

       The Georgian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement on the visit of Colonel General Vladimir Chirkin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, to Russian military bases in South Ossetia and Abkhazia ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Dagomys Agreements between Russia and Georgia, which launched the peacekeeping operation in South Ossetia. The general held a briefing, in which he told Moscow journalists about his visit to the South Caucasus and the development plans for the Russian Army, in particular the upcoming Caucasus 2012 exercises.

       “Russia continues its intensive militarization of the occupied regions of Georgia, rearming the occupation troops with modern equipment, including offensive missile systems, and deploying strike groups of forces there,” reads the statement by the Georgian Foreign Ministry. It also said that Colonel General Chirkin violated Georgia's national border when he went to the Georgian regions occupied by Russia, the Tskhinval Region and Abkhazia, where he visited the “bases of the Russian occupation troops” and met with representatives of the “occupation regimes.”

       “The regular military exercises held in the occupied regions and along the perimeter of the Georgian state border in accordance with the 2008 scenario, in particular the Caucasus 2012 strategic exercises scheduled for September, should be considered part of intensive militarization,” the statement reads. “By doing this, Russia is creating a direct military threat to peace and stability in Georgia and the Black Sea region as a whole.”

       There is no point in commenting on the spirit of this statement. It is very similar to the statements made by Japan whenever Russian political or military leaders visit the Kuril Islands. Georgia cannot accept its defeat in the August 2008 war, which was not provoked by Russia, or the irreversible loss of its territory. This is how aggressors usually feel when they lose.

       Georgia was offered an opportunity to settle its military conflict with South Ossetia peacefully. The Joint Peacekeeping Force included the Georgian troops, which had been deployed along the South Ossetian border under the Dagomys Agreements signed by Eduard Shevardnadze and Boris Yeltsin on July 14, 1992. But Mikheil Saakashvili did not want to negotiate a solution to the problem with Georgia’s historical neighbors and his own people. Instead, he opted for the use of military force and perfidious violation of interstate agreements. He ordered the slaughter of Russian peacekeepers, and was then surprised that Russia fought back.

       But I want to draw your attention to a new element in the Georgian Foreign Ministry statement – the talk about the “militarization” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and the alleged participation of the Russian military bases in the Caucasus 2012 exercises. To begin with, these bases were established there in accordance with Russia’s bilateral agreements with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Militarization is generally understood to mean the process of preparing for war or a military conflict, which embraces all spheres of state and public life including politics, the economy and culture. Russia is not trying to unnerve South Ossetia and Abkhazia with its alleged preparations for war with Georgia. These countries have lived in an atmosphere of provocation and bloodshed on their borders with Georgia for 20 years. South Ossetians and Abkhazians know from first hand experience whom they need to protect themselves from and who will give them a helping hand. They have invited Russian forces onto their territory because Russians will not betray them, unlike the Georgians who have done this on more than one occasion.

       As for the armed forces, training is part of their professional duty and it includes tactical and strategic exercises, such as the Caucasus 2012 strategic command post exercises, which will be held in Russia’s Southern Military District from September 17 to 24.

       It should be noted that the words “command post” signify that the main “battles” of the exercise will be virtual: they will be waged on maps, scale models of the region, commanders’ workbooks and computers. The troops will hold drills at the Prudboy test range in the Volgograd Region, the Tarskoye test range near Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia), the Rayevskoye test range in the mountains near Novorossiisk and the Dalny test range in Dagestan. How are these drills connected to Georgia? Why is the Georgian Foreign Ministry panicking? Moreover, Russia’s 4th Base in South Ossetia, 7th Base in Abkhazia and 104th Base in Armenia will not be taking part in the Caucasus exercises, which will be commanded by General of the Army Nikolai Makarov, Chief of the Russian General Staff.

       The most interesting part is that Tbilisi surely knows all this, but it had to react. Its Foreign Ministry issued the statement to remind the world about the evil country that threatens Georgia, a “small and harmless” nation.

       This article was originally published in Russian in Nezavisimaya Gazeta

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