MOSCOW (AFP) -- Russia will step up its military training exercises next month in response to NATO's current war games in Georgia, Interfax news agency quoted the deputy defense minister as saying Tuesday.

“Firstly, we are watching and evaluating everything that is happening over there (in Georgia during the NATO-led military execrises), said Alexander Kolmakov.
“Naturally, adjustments will be made” to Russia's strategic and tactical maneuvers, entitled “Caucasus 2009”, which are scheduled to take place in the region in June, he added.
The exercises will be “comparable to those held during the Soviet Union,” said Kolmakov, adding that they would comprise nearly all the units based in the northern Caucasus region and elements from across Russia.
NATO and Georgia began a month of military exercises in the ex-Soviet state on May 6, nine months after Russia and Georgia fought a short war that sparked a crisis in relations between Moscow and the West.
The maneuvers, planned over the last year with preparations starting before Georgia's war with Russia in August, are aimed at improving the way the nations operate together in crisis situations under a UN mandate.
Russia, which is irked by the prospect of Georgia one day becoming a NATO member, said the war games contradict the ceasefire deal signed after the August conflict and risk adding to instability in the region.