Getting your player ready...
MOSCOW — Russian military forces began large-scale war games Monday in the Caucasus region, not far from the border with Georgia, raising tensions between the two countries less than a year after they went to war.
In a series of news conferences Monday, military officials said that about 8,500 troops from all branches of the armed services would take part in a week of exercises, called Caucasus-2009, the largest such war games since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The officials noted that the military exercises were intended in part to incorporate lessons learned from the war in August, which Russia won.
The war games this year are scheduled to end July 6, the day that President Barack Obama arrives in Moscow for a summit meeting.
