[Cid_Yama]

<b>South Ossetian police ordered to return fire if Georgians attack</b>

South Ossetian police posts were given an order to return fire in the event of gunfire from Georgian positions, after Saturday morning's attack, the republic's interior minister said.

"From today, all posts have been given the order, in the event of targeted fire at their posts, to open return fire. There is now no alternative," Mindzayev told RIA Novosti.

"A series of acts of provocation is continuing, which the Georgian side believes will ultimately prompt the Ossetian side to such steps. And the further this goes, the harder it will be to restrain interior ministry personnel, who are in danger," he said.

"According to agreements, there should be no troops in this zone. Georgia has flagrantly violated all agreements, and the observers, in my opinion, are playing a one-sided role. We see no action from them at all."

The European Union currently has observers stationed in areas of Georgia near the South Ossetian and Abkhazian borders, to ensure that the EU-brokered ceasefire is maintained.
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<b>NATO fighters practice air defense over Baltic skies</b>

NATO fighters started on Tuesday exercises aimed at policing the airspace over the Baltic countries as part of the Baltic air-policing mission, the Estonian defense ministry said.

The Baltic air-policing mission is a NATO air defense Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) in order to guard the airspace over the three Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The current exercise involves up to 15 NATO aircraft from the Baltic States, the U.S., Poland and Denmark. Overall supervision of the exercise will be carried out from a NATO Combined Air Operations Centre in Germany.
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<b>Ex-Soviet states to test integrated air defense this week</b>

More than 50 combat aircraft will participate in a joint command-and-staff air defense exercise conducted by members of the Commonwealth of Independent States on Thursday, a Russian Air Force spokesman said on Monday.

"The exercise will involve over 50 fighters, bombers and helicopters. A particular feature of the exercise is the deployment of Russia's A-50 Mainstay AWACS aircraft," Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik said.

Combat-duty units of the CIS integrated air defense network, which are stationed in Kazakhstan, Siberia, central Russia, Belarus and Armenia will take part in the exercise.

The CIS, a loose alliance of former Soviet states, comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Ukraine is a founding and participating country but technically not a member state. Turkmenistan holds associate status, while Georgia recently withdrew over the South Ossetia conflict.
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