Originally posted by ArMaP
Maybe related to this situation, a mutiny happened yesterday in a Georgian military unit.

MoD Says Military Unit Mutinies

Sorry for the short post, I have to go to work.

To make available from funds appropriated by title XI an additional $42,500,000 for assistance for Georgia.

A YEAR AGO, Russian military maneuvers and provocations of the former Soviet republic of Georgia caused a couple of astute observers to predict that Moscow was laying the groundwork for a military invasion of its democratic and pro-Western neighbor. The warnings were laughed off -- until Russian forces poured across Georgia's borders on the night of Aug. 7, routing the Georgian army and driving thousands of ethnic Georgians from two breakaway provinces. Ten months later, with another summer approaching, Russia is once again mounting provocations on the ground and in diplomatic forums; once again it has scheduled a large military training exercise for July in the region bordering Georgia.

Could Vladimir Putin be contemplating another military operation to finish off the Georgian government of Mikheil Saakashvili -- whom Mr. Putin once vowed to "hang by his balls"? Once again, the scenario is easy to dismiss: The Russian leadership, after all, is engaged in an effort to "reset" relations with the United States; it is seeking support in Europe for discussions on a new "security architecture." Another fight with Georgia could blow up both efforts.

Defensive fortifications are being set up around Tbilisi in anticipation of a possible military strike on the Georgian capital, according to a Georgian media report.

Rezonansi, an opposition-minded daily, claimed that in addition to Tbilisi, fortifications are being built near the administrative border with the breakaway region of Abkhazia, where Russia has troops stationed. Defense Ministry officials were not available to confirm or to deny the June 4 report.

In interviews with the paper, independent military experts stated that defense measures are being taken to protect Tbilisi. "This step is correct and logical because occupying troops are stationed just a few kilometers away from the capital [in the breakaway region of South Ossetia - ed] and its is clear that, in such conditions, this country should make sure it tightens security measures," expert Irakli Sesiashvili was quoted as saying.

Another analyst, Mamuka Areshidze, director of the Caucasus Strategic Studies Center, said that security zones have been set up around Tbilisi to stall any potential Russian offensive. "I do not expect an attack right now, but threats persist and we should be prepared in an appropriate manner," Areshidze said.

MOSCOW (AP)–Russia’s top general said Georgia had fully rearmed its military after last year’s war with Russia, news agencies reported Friday.

The comments by Gen. Nikolai Makarov were the latest in a series of increasingly belligerent accusations between Moscow and Tbilisi, leading some analysts to warn that the two sides could be gearing up for a new fight.

Makarov, chief of the Russian military’s general staff, was quoted by ITAR-Tass and Interfax as saying that Georgia now has more weaponry than it did before the August war.

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) -- Georgia is continuing to militarize even though it clearly has not ruled out using force in regard to its former republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia’s NATO envoy said on Friday.

“We have all the necessary information, including classified, about those who continue to deliver weapons to Georgia and at what volumes,” Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio station. “This information is dispiriting.”

Although he did not identify the countries involved he said that Russia is making bilateral contact to tell them that Moscow knew of the weapons deliveries.

The top Russian military commander, the Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister Army-General Nikolai Makarov during the Paris air show this week said: "Georgia is saber-rattling and preparing weapons to resolve its territorial problems by any means." Makarov accused NATO of supporting Georgian aggressive intentions and E.U. observers of ignoring Georgian rearmament and war preparations. Makarov stated that the Russian army and the FSB Border Guards in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are preparing together with local forces and forming new military infrastructure. He confirmed that the defense ministry will permanently station "somewhat less combat troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia" than the previously announced 3,700 soldiers in each region (RIA Novosti, June 17).

If Moscow were indeed anticipating a possible new Georgian attack, it would have been logical to place forces in forward positions to prevent a sudden assault. But if Russia itself is preparing major military action, using the accusations of Georgian aggression as a pretext, it makes practical sense not to spend resources creating large permanent military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It is much more expedient when the time for action arrives to move combat troops from permanent bases within Russia.

This month the Russian military will stage massive exercises in the North Caucasus, "Kavkaz-2009." According to the defense ministry's official spokesman Colonel Aleksandr Drobyshevskiy the exercises will involve 8,500 soldiers, 200 tanks, 450 armored combat vehicles and 250 guns and last from June 29 to July 6. General Makarov will be directly in command. The official aim of "Kavkaz-2009" is to prepare to counter terrorists (www.mil.ru, June 11). Makarov previously told the press that "Kavkaz-2009" will be held from June 29 to July 10, and that it will be "a large-scale exercise," involving "all the brigades of the North Caucasia military district, the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla marines brigades," as well as troops from other districts (RIA Novosti, June 5). This would seem to indicate that much more than 8,500 men will be involved. It is also unprecedented in Russian military tradition for the Chief of the General Staff to be directly in command of a routine regional exercise aimed at countering terrorism.

As Washington continues to maintain its presence in the Caucasus, the US Navy is to send its USS Stout (DDG-55) into joint maneuvers with the Georgian armada.

According to RIA Novosti, the guided-missile destroyer is to berth at the port of Batumi in southwestern Georgia tomorrow for exercises which test joint cooperation against unpredicted complexities at sea.

The warship will then depart for Georgia's western port of Poti.

Similar US moves have trailed Georgia's August 2008 invasion of its independence-seeking republic of South Ossetia. The attacks were responded by the Russian army.

Russia has test-launched a second Sineva intercontinental ballistic missile from a submarine, the chief of the General Staff said on Tuesday.

The first launch was conducted on Monday from a Delta IV class strategic nuclear-powered submarine of Russia's Northern Fleet.

Army Gen. Nikolai Makarov also said that a Bulava SLBM would be launched in the near future.

"Just you wait a little, and it will be launched," he said.

The RSM-54 Sineva (NATO codename SS-N-23 Skiff) is a third-generation liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile that entered service with the Russian Navy in July 2007. It can carry four to 10 nuclear warheads, depending on the modification.

Both countries display military might near Russia's southern border

BATUMI, Georgia - A week after a Moscow summit intended to smooth over the differences between Russia and the U.S., both countries on Tuesday engaged in displays of military might near Russia's southern border.

A U.S. warship anchored off the Black Sea coast of Georgia in preparation for joint naval maneuvers with the ex-Soviet nation, which was trounced in a war with Russia last August. Russian warplanes, meanwhile, conducted mock bombing runs in exercises just a few hundred kilometers northwest.

The maneuvers and countermaneuvers marked a stark change from July 6-7, when U.S. President Barack Obama dined in the Kremlin with Russia's Dmitry Medvedev and both countries expressed hope for repairing relations that in recent years have sunk to a post-Cold War low.