Russia's Kavkaz-2016 Drills Were Not Directed Against Ukraine

Russia took into account parallel US and Georgian military exercises during its Kavkaz-2016 strategic command-staff drills and was not directing its actions against Ukraine contrary to reports, the Russian Defense Ministry’s chief of General Staff said Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – More than 120,000 Russian troops took part in this year's September 5-10 strategic command and staff Kavkaz-2016 exercises.

"Of course we took into account US-Georgia exercises considering that it involved about 1,500 personnel. We took their actions into consideration," Gen. Valery Gerasimov told reporters.

He added that the drills sparked increased interest on the part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states’ intelligence, but maintained that the maneuvers avoided border violations because Russian aircraft were scrambled at the approach of foreign warplanes.

"Of course we are aware the some media have tried to somehow link our troops’ intent and actions with alleged plans to invade Ukraine. This does not in any way correspond to reality, these exercises were planned and reported last year," Gerasimov stressed.