Russian experts claim no relationship between military exercises "Caucasus-2016" and "Agile Spirit"

The military exercises "Caucasus-2016" in the south of Russia and the NATO "2016 Agile Spirit" in Georgia, which took place in early September in the immediate vicinity of each other, were not related. This was stated by Russian military experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 1-10, in Georgia, military training grounds "Orpolo" and "Vaziani" hosted the multinational NATO military exercises "2016 Agile Spirit". The NATO exercises were carried out almost simultaneously with the military training of the Russian Army "Kavkaz-2016". The exercises of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) took place on September 5-10 at the military training grounds of the Southern Military District, as well as in the waters of the Black and Caspian Seas.

"We cannot directly compare the military exercises. In total, according to the Russian General Headquarters, 120,000 soldiers and officers took part in the military training, while the military exercises in Georgia were of much smaller scale. The scales are too different," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Pavel Felgenhauer, a Russian military analyst.

According to him, the Russian military exercises are not directed against Georgia and are not a response to NATO training.

"The Western countries, including the United States, are not willing to fight for Georgia, and the country also is not going to start a war against anyone," said Pavel Felgenhauer.

Military expert Alexander Golts, a journalist of the online edition "Daily Journal", also shares the opinion that the military exercises in Russia and Georgia are not connected.

The military expert has described the Russian exercises as "modest" and of "openly defensive nature." In particular, according to Alexander Golts, soldiers and officers were training the tactics for protection of Crimea.

"There is no feeling that they trained a landing operation to Georgia," said Alexander Golts.

According to the military expert, no new weapons were used in Russia and "everything went as a usual."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.