MOSCOW, August 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Over 3,500 servicemen and about 400 pieces of weaponry were put on alert during a military exercise and a combat readiness check in Primorye Territory, Russia’s Far East, the spokesman for the Eastern Military District, Colonel Alexander Gordeyev said on Friday.

The drills are taking place as part of a snap combat readiness check that began on the Kamchatka Peninsula on August 6, he said.

“The servicemen are practicing skills for long-distance redeployment, including to Kamchatka and Sakhalin, where they are planning to take part in tactical drills together with the troops stationed in those regions,” Gordeyev said.

About 6,000 servicemen from four regions and over 800 pieces of weaponry, including Pacific Fleet ships, are engaged in the exercise.