Russia practices winning a war in a disputed region NATO just told it to leave

[TomSea]

Russia practices winning a war in a disputed region NATO just told it to leave
By Tom O'Connor On 4/1/19 at 4:22 PM EDT

Russia has hosted a series of drills in Abkhazia, a Black Sea breakaway republic considered by much of the international community to be a part of neighboring Georgia, where NATO was pursuing rival maneuvers.

During a recent visit there, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told the Institute for War and Peace Reporting that NATO "recognizes the territorial integrity of Georgia within its recognized international borders" and calls "on Russia to withdraw its forces from Abkhazia and South Ossetia," a fellow pro-Moscow territory that declared independence in the 1990s. The two breakaway regions, which played a major role in the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia, host Russian military bases and have received renewed attention as Georgia pushed for NATO and EU membership.

Moscow has opposed the move, which would create a new front line between Russia and NATO. The latter has steadily expanded east in the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union. As Stoltenberg spoke with officials in Georgia, Russian troops fired grenade launchers, howitzers and mortars at "ground and air targets simulating infantry and enemy helicopters" in Abkhazia's Tsabal and Nagvalou.

Read more at: https://www.newsweek.com/russia-practice-war-nato-leave-1382211