TERMEZ, August 6. /TASS/. The active phase of the Russian-Uzbek tactical exercise Yug-2021 (South-2021), being held against a backdrop of destabilization in Afghanistan, ended near the city of Termez on Friday.

The final events of the exercise were observed by the chief of Russia's General Staff, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov and his Uzbek counterpart Major-General Shurkhat Khalmukhamedov. In a simulated special operation a joint contingent prevented illegal armed groups from crossing the state border.

The joint force conducted air reconnaissance and prevented a penetration of large armed groups. The militants were sealed off, chased and eventually eliminated in a rural community.

"The scenario of the exercise was based on the Russian military's experience obtained in operations against illegal armed groups in Syria," the commander of Russia's Central Military Region, Mikhail Teplinsky, told the media.

Participating in the exercise were about 1,500 men from the two countries, up to 200 pieces of military equipment and special vehicles and four planes Tupolev-22M3 of Russia's aerospace force.