Ready for anything
According to reports:
Russian troops will practice amphibious landings and airdrops and carry out firing drills during "offensive and defensive operations".Watch:
The commander in charge of the exercise, Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov, said the drill was prompted by an "increased terrorist threat" in the region.
Col Serdyukov said: "For the first time in the Russian army's history the Airborne Forces' three large units were simultaneously alerted as part of the drills and partly redeployed to Crimea with weapons and equipment."
According to the Independent, "NATO says it was not informed of the exercise".
We'll end with that.
Putin says snap check shows National Guard's high skills
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he was content with the results of the National Guard's snap check.
"The National Guard's sudden combat readiness check last week showed the high level of their skills," Putin said at a ceremony of receiving officers appointed to senior command posts.
As the Russian president said, "it is important to make the new service [the Federal National Guard Troops Service] highly mobile and equip it with modern arms and hardware."
Putin also said it was necessary to "keep the best traditions of units and formations" that had become part of the National Guard.
Russia's General Staff to strengthen troops in western, Arctic directions
The Russian General Staff is focused on strengthening the groupings of forces in the western, south-western and Arctic directions during its strategic planning, Head of the General Staff's Main Operations Department Sergei Rudskoi said on Thursday.
"The General Staff concentrates the basic efforts on increasing combat capabilities, the capabilities of the Armed Forces, deploying and reinforcing the groupings of forces in the western, south-western and Arctic strategic directions," the general said at a ceremony of introducing officers to the Russian president due to their appointment to senior command posts.
Rudskoi told the president that the decisions made by the supreme commander-in-chief "are being implemented within the strictly defined deadlines, guaranteeing Russia's military security."
Reader Comments
drills performed, codes, com frequencies, the entire bunch of info the Pentagon needs. Totally unacceptable on the part of the Russians not to inform NATO of what they were doing exactly. Seriously now, couldn't Pentagon come up with a more serious excuse ? Sometimes it's better to sit high,
observe and say nothing. "We were not informed.". That's one lame excuse.
Just to keep you informed…
I've just had an attack of 'flatulence'… I suspect it was caused by either the beans I had for tea, or Putin.