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Military drills

Defense Ministry informs foreign attaches of snapchecks in Russian army

Snapchecks will be held between June 14 and 22

© Donat Sorokin/TASS

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Surprise combat readiness check begins in Russia

MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry has notified foreign military attaches as well as parties to the 2011 Vienna Document through channels of the OSCE European security agency about the start of a snap inspection of the Russian Armed Forces, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told reporters on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that a surprise combat readiness inspection was announced in the Russian Armed Forces at 07:00 am on Tuesday by the decision of the country’s Supreme Commander-in-Chief, President Vladimir Putin. The inspection will involve a number of equipment storage bases, as well as separate bodies of military administration.

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"On the instructions of Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergey Shoigu, information has been sent to the offices of military attaches at the foreign embassies, accredited at the Russian military agency, as well as through OSCE channels to all countries participants of the 2011 Vienna Document on confidence-and security-building measures, notifying them about surprise checks at some arms and hardware storage bases as well as separate bodies of military administration due between June 14 and 22," Anatoly Antonov said.

He noted that provisions of the Vienna Document did not apply to these checks, but the Russian side "has provided the above information in the spirit of goodwill".

"This confirms a bid of the Russian Defense Ministry to develop free-will transparency and confidence-building measures," the deputy minister said.

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