ROSTOV-ON-DON, July 24. /TASS/. A large-scale military exercise involving two armies of Russia’s Southern Military District began in the region on Tuesday ahead of scheduled NATO maneuvers in Georgia, the district’s press service said.

"In accordance with the plan of combat training, military units and formations of the 49th and 58th armies of the Southern Military District launched a command-and-staff exercise under a bilateral scenario, led by the district’s commander, Colonel-General Alexander Dvornikov," the press service said in a statement.

Under the scenario, a military formation created on the basis of the 58th Army and Russian military bases in the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, will counter an attack by forces led by the commander of the 49th Army.

"This summer training period’s stage of maximum intensity exercises will grow into a phase of a bilateral command-and-staff exercise involving almost all formations of the military district, including the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla," the press service quoted Col. Gen. Dvornikov as saying.

According to earlier reports, over 3,000 people from 14 NATO members and partners will take part in a multinational exercise in Georgia, headlined Agile Spirit - 2019. The maneuvers will begin on July 27 and end on August 9.