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Over 2,000 commandos to relocate to Crimea for large-scale drills

Overall, the command of the Southern Military District is set to engage about 8,000 personnel and up to 350 items of armament and military hardware from the combined-arms, air force and air defense armies and its other units and formations

ROSTOV-ON-DON, October 14. /TASS/. Over 2,000 special operations forces stationed in the Krasnodar Region kicked off marches to the Opuk training range in Crimea for the Southern Military District’s large-scale drills, its press office reported on Thursday.

"Over 2,000 personnel of a special operations formation of the Southern Military District in the Krasnodar Region went on alert and embarked on a march to participate in a large-scale command and staff exercise. Motorized convoys of over 200 wheeled vehicles will relocate to the Opuk training ground in Crimea," the press office said in a statement.

While on the march, the commandos will practice protection from a notional enemy’s firepower and the impact of its weapons of mass destruction, the statement says.

The large-scale drills kicked off at practice ranges in the Southern Military District on October 13. The maneuvers will also involve units of the Southern Military District’s military bases stationed in Abkhazia, Armenia and South Ossetia, and also forces of the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla that will practice assignments in the Black and Caspian Seas.

Overall, the command of the Southern Military District is set to engage about 8,000 personnel and up to 350 items of armament and military hardware from the combined-arms, air force and air defense armies and its other units and formations.

The maneuvers will inspect the troop preparedness in the south-western strategic area.

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