Georgia's Interior Ministry said Russia has 15,000 soldiers in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which would be far more than in past months. Since the beginning of April, Russia has moved 130 armored vehicles toward the boundary line from elsewhere in South Ossetia and 70 more have entered South Ossetia from Russia, ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said.
Russia's Defense Ministry refused to comment on the composition of its forces, and Georgia's claims could not be independently verified. European monitors who patrol the boundary lines are not allowed into South Ossetia or Abkhazia, and journalists also are stopped at Russian checkpoints.
Peter Semneby, the EU special representative for the South Caucasus, said the Russian military presence is clearly "significantly larger" than it was.
From a Georgian police checkpoint just 100 yards (meters) from a Russian roadblock controlling access to the village of Akhmaji, a half dozen Russian tanks and other armored vehicles can be seen in the valley.
Local police chief Timur Burduli said the vehicles appeared during the first week of April and are the Russian forces closest to Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. "A tank needs only 40 minutes," he said.
Along the highway to Tbilisi, a freshly dug anti-tank trench stretches across a long field. Steve Bird, spokesman for the EU monitors, said the Georgians have been building such defenses in recent weeks.
But the Georgians won't be alone for long:
NATO said on Wednesday it would hold military exercises next month in Georgia, a former Soviet republic promised eventual alliance membership but whose territory was invaded by Russia last August.
No immediate comment was available from Russia, which considers Georgia part of its traditional sphere of influence. Russia invaded Georgia to defeat an attempt by its pro-Western leadership to retake the breakaway South Ossetia region.
NATO's announcement of the exercises, which will involve 1,300 troops from 19 countries, comes at a time when it is seeking to rebuild ties with Russia damaged as a result of Moscow's intervention in Georgia.
An alliance statement said planning for the May 6-June 1 exercises began early last year, months before the war in Georgia.
It's funny how Georgian opposition groups don't rally to their government despite the clear Russian pressure. I guess Russian support isn't as "tainting" to a political opposition group as ours is, according to our more liberal citizens.
But I digress.
NATO may not be ready to admit Georgia any time soon (and there are reasons not to--namely the Georgians need to be able to defend themselves and they need to abandon hopes of regaining the territory that Russia stole from them), but NATO isn't standing aside to allow Russia another go at Tbilisi.
I never did understand why Russia started a war without finishing it.
