On June 29, 2009 operative-strategic maneuvers “Caucasus-2009” with the participation of North Caucasus Military District units and Russian military personnel based in South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the south of Russia launched.

The maneuvers will be held on the territory of the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions, Astrakhan, Volgograd and Rostov regions, North Ossetia-Alania, Ingushetia, Dagestan, as well as Karachayevo-Circassia and Chechnya republics. According to Russian mass media, the military maneuvers, lasting till July 6, 2009 will involve 8500 militaries, 200 tanks and 450 armored vehicles and 250 ordnances. The maneuvers will be under the command of Nikolay Makarov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The maneuvers will comprise of formations and units of the North Caucasus Military District, as well as cooperating and operative subordinated structures — Air Forces, Air Defense Forces, the military of Caspian Fleet, Novorosiysk Naval Base, FSB South Federal District’s Regional Frontier Department, Internal Force Command of the RF Interior Ministry and Airborne Forces. Note, the maneuvers were severely criticized by Georgia.