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Over 3,000 Lithuanian troops switch to active phase of major military drills

The exercises aim to check the combat readiness of army units and the level of their inter-operability with civilian authorities upon the emergence of the so-called hybrid threats

Lithuanian Army Commander Major-General Jonas Vytautas Zukas EPA/VALDA KALNINA

Lithuanian Army Commander Major-General Jonas Vytautas Zukas

© EPA/VALDA KALNINA

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Lithuania tests mobilization system in framework of large-scale national military drills

VILNIUS, May 4. /TASS/. Over 3,000 Lithuanian troops have switched to the active phase of the country’s largest military drills dubbed Zaibo Kirtis (Lightning Strike), Army Commander Major-General Jonas Vytautas Zukas said on Monday.

The exercises will be held in the Klaipeda, Kaisiadorys and Svencioniu districts of Lithuania.

"The exercises will simulate situations when the Interior Ministry’s forces and resources are insufficient to neutralize various extremal situations unrelated to the direct repulsion of an imaginary enemy’s attack and the army should be involved," the Lithuanian general said, explaining the scenario of the drills.

The exercises aim to check the combat readiness of army units and the level of their inter-operability with civilian authorities upon the emergence of the so-called hybrid threats combining both military and non-military methods of fighting, the general said.

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