18:58, 12 July 2018

South Ossetia holds military exercises against NATO's call for withdrawal of Russian troops

Military exercises. South Ossetia. Photo © Sputnik / Sergey Karpov https://sputnik-ossetia.ru/South_Ossetia/20160926/3076281.html

About 1000 soldiers and officers took part in exercises at a Russian military base in South Ossetia, reported the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after NATO had requested to withdraw the Russian troops from the above territory.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 11, leaders of 29 NATO countries called on Russia to withdraw troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia and refuse to recognize their sovereignty.

Georgia treats South Ossetia and Abkhazia as the territories occupied by Russia.

The military exercises which took place at the Dzartzemi training ground in South Ossetia involved about 1000 soldiers and officers from motorized rifle, tank, artillery, anti-aircraft, missile and special units, reported the press service for the Southern Military District of the Russian MoD.

More than 150 units of military equipment were involved in the exercises.

Let us remind you that starting from September 13, 2017, Abkhazia hosted Russian military exercises with involvement of more than 2000 soldiers and over 300 units of military equipment. The exercises violate international rules and Georgia treats them as a threat, stated Levan Izoriya, Georgian Minister of Defence.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 9, 2018 at 01:40 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.