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Some 45,000 troops, 1,700 armaments involved in Russian Aerospace Force’s snap check

150 aircraft and 200 air defense missile systems are engaged in the check

© Vitaliy Nevar/TASS

MOSCOW, February 8. /TASS/. About 45,000 troops and 1,700 pieces of military hardware, including 150 aircraft and 200 antiaircraft missile systems, are involved in a snap combat readiness check of Russia’s Aerospace Force, Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said on Wednesday.

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"Overall, about 45,000 military personnel, around 1,700 pieces of armament and military hardware, including 150 aircraft and 200 air defense missile systems, are involved in the check," the deputy defense minister said at a meeting with military attaches accredited in Moscow.

"As the check is sudden and is not the subject of control under the Vienna document or under the OSCE documents, no formal notification was required. We are informing you in a gesture of good will," the Russian deputy defense minister said.

The Russian Aerospace Force’s sudden check started on February 7 by decision of Russian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin.

The Aerospace Force’s air defense units, including crews of the S-300 and S-400 antiaircraft missile systems, went on combat alert in new positions earlier on Wednesday. The air defense units on combat duty in Moscow and Russia’s Central Industrial District were put on high alert.

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