CHELYABINSK, September 27 (Itar-Tass) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who arrived in the Chelyabinsk region in Southern Urals as part of a working trip Monday, is expected to attend a demonstration of practical skills of combat forces as part of the Center’2011 strategic war games on the Chebarkul drill ground.
Also, he is due to hand state awards to the military participating in the maneuvers.
After the demonstration of combat practices, Medvedev will have a meeting with commanding officers of the Armed Forces, the Interior Ministry and the Federal Service for Control over the Circulation of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances who took part in the exercise.
The Center’2011 exercise started out September 19 simultaneously in six regions of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
General Nikolai Makarov, the Chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff who did the overall coordination of the maneuvers, said earlier that the military of the four former Soviet republics had scrutinized all the armed conflicts of the past twenty to fifteen years and had drawn up a plan for these war games on the basis of that analysis.
“The exercise pursues a broad enough scope of objectives linked to the operations of a multi-branch grouping of troops in the Central Asian zone,” Gen Makarov said.
He noted the patchiness of the geographic areas where the Armed Forces of the participating countries – the units having the size of up to a brigade – were acting this time.
“We’re taking account of internal and external threats likewise and we’re also considering the possible scenarios, under which instability in Central Asia will surge after the departure of U.S. forces from Afghanistan,” Gen Makarov said.
“All the activities proceed from the principle of a joint performance of tasks by the rapid deployment forces and Collective Rapid Reaction Forces of the CIS,” he said.
The agencies of military command and control of the four nations are taking part in the war games this time. All in all, the troops engaged in the maneuvers have the strength of over 12, 000 and have more than 3,000 vehicles and units of equipment assigned to them.
According to a schedule, the war games will wind up later Tuesday.