MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/. Special operations forces from Russia, Belarus, and Serbia seized notional terrorists during the Slavic Brotherhood-2021 joint drills at the Rayevsky practice range near Novorossiysk, the press office of Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Friday.

"In the course of the live-fire stage, an outlawed armed gang was fully eliminated," the press office said in a statement.

The paratroopers made air jumps with special ‘wing-type’ parachutes from Mi-8 helicopters for a reconnaissance check of the area where outlawed armed gangs were staying, the statement says.

Su-25 ground attack aircraft of operational-tactical aviation and Ka-52 ‘Alligator’ gunships of army aviation of the Russian Aerospace Force delivered the first strike against the amassments of notional terrorists, the press office said.

A coalition detachment carried out a parachute-free airborne assault by the airland delivery method while a special operations group from Serbia seized a mountain pass and freed civilians held hostage in the terrorists’ camp, the statement says.

"Under cover of artillery fire, the troops reached the lines and suppressed the resistance of outlawed armed gangs by fire from T-72 BM3 tanks, BMD-4M airborne assault infantry fighting vehicles, and BTR-80 armored personnel carriers, following which airborne assault units carried out a raid to finally capture the area and eliminate outlawed armed gangs," the press office specified.

In conclusion of the drills, an Il-76MD military transport aircraft airdropped three humanitarian cargoes to civilians in the freed zone of the joint counter-terror operation, the statement says.

The Slavic Brotherhood-2021 international drills were held on June 8-18. The troops from Russia, Belarus and Serbia practiced planning and conducting joint counter-terror operations within a multinational tactical group in the drill-designated area.

The active phase of the maneuvers ran on June 16-18. The drills brought together about 100 staff members of a Serbian special forces brigade, around 300 troops of the Vitebsk Guards airborne unit of the Belarusian special operations forces with 60 combat vehicles and over 500 servicemen and more than 100 items of military and special hardware of the Guards Kuban Cossack air assault regiment of the Novorossiysk mountain air assault formation.