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Putin satisfied with manoeuvres in Eastern Military District

“Right now I can say that the set tasks have been generally fulfilled with a mark better than satisfactory,” Russian President said
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

CHITA, July 17 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is satisfied with the progress of the military exercises in the Eastern Military District. The RF head of state thanked the officers and personnel for demonstrated proficiency.

“The exercise is not over yet, it has entered the final stage,” the Russian President told Itar-Tass. “In general, it goes very smoothly, without any serious failures, the goals have been almost achieved,” he said.

“Right now I can say that the set tasks have been generally fulfilled with a mark better than satisfactory,” Putin said. “I hope that the final stage will be conducted in the same mode, at the same pace and with the same quality,” he said.

The president noted that the manoeuvres have been very ambitious. “The Army and Navy must be in motion, must improve their skills, knowledge, and against the background of large-scale rearmament such large-scale exercises are particularly important, because it is necessary to understand the peculiarities of the modern battlefield, who and how will use new technology in combat conditions,” Putin stressed.

According to the president, the exercise was complicated by the fact that it was an unscheduled check and units were being alerted not in part, but in whole, and deployed to unfamiliar ranges. “Transport aircraft, railway, navy men worked very well,” he said.

The Supreme Commander-in-Chief, President of the Russian Federation issued an order to conduct an unscheduled military check in the Eastern Military District on July 12, and on the night to July 13 the troops were put on full alert with the following deployment to training areas and ranges.

This combat readiness check has become the largest in post-Soviet history. The exercise involved military forces, groups and units of the Central and Eastern military districts, the Pacific Fleet, as well as long-range aviation and military transport aviation of the Russian Air Force. The main goal of the manoeuvres was checking readiness of units for the fulfilment of assigned tasks, as well as the assessment of the level of personnel training, the level of military equipment of units and formations.

The total numerical strength of the troops involved in the manoeuvres reached 160 military servicemen, about one thousand tanks and combat armoured vehicles, 130 planes and helicopters of the long-range, military transport, fighter, bomber and Army aviation, as well as 70 vessels of the Navy. The units and forces have practiced combat training missions at 17 ranges, and the ships of the Pacific Fleet - in the areas of the Sea of ··Okhotsk and the Sea of ··Japan (East Sea).

On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin inspected the manoeuvres in Sakhalin, where he visited the Uspenovsky training range. On Wednesday, the RF head of state attended the final phase of the large-scale exercise - during the combat operation drill by military units of the Central and Eastern Military Districts at the Tsugol range in the Chita Region.