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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that military exercises by the United States and neighboring Georgia later this month were a provocative step that could destabilize the Caucasus region.

Russia said the exercises were scheduled for May 11-26 and that the United States was indulging the “revanchist desires of Tbilisi”.

Russia and Georgia fought a war in 2008 and Russia backs the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the Russian-Georgian border.