Vladikavkaz/Agency Caucasus – Commander Sergei Makarov of the Russian Army deployed in the Military Region of North Caucasus said that his troops would be ready to help Russian Peace Forces in case the tension escalates so high as to cause an outbreak of fighting between Georgia and its two breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Makarov said that his troops displayed readiness for a possible warfare while they were exercising the military drills: "The Regional Russian Army of the North Caucasus will be commissioned in case fighting breaks out between the sides to assist the peace forces in ending the conflict between the sides, to provide humanitarian aid to the residents of the zone of conflict, to protect the rights and liberties of the Russian citizens and to try to evacuate the local residents from the zone of conflict."
"I can guarantee that the Army forces of the North Caucasus have shown readiness as well as excellence after they successfully mastered the military exercises and instructions to maintain regional stability and peace," said Makarov.
The Military Region of North Caucasus covers Adygeia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, Ingushetiya, Dagestan, Chechnya, Kalmykia, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, Astrakhan, Volgograd and Rostov. ÖZ/FT/FT
