Black Sea war-games wound up

The wargames started early on Friday a few hours after President Putin issued orders to flex the military muscle in Southern Russia.

About 7,000 servicemen, 250 armoured vehicles and over 30 warships of the Southern Military District are involved in the large-scale military exercises that are being conducted in the Krasnodar region. The surprise drills that would test reaction speed and combat readiness started on Thursday by President Vladimir Putin’s order. On Friday, the commander-in-chief arrived in the Krasnodar region to personally inspect the exercises.

The exercises are being conducted in a region where the Sochi Olympics will be held in less than a year, while the country’s leaders have declared that guaranteeing security to the games would be a priority for the law enforcement agencies as well as the armed forces. During the drills warships carried out manoeuvres to repulse ground and air attacks. The Air Force made over 20 flights. Such drills reveal shortcomings, especially in the system of troop command and control and strategic and operative mobility of forces and help to upgrade handling characteristics, says editor-in-chief of the “Arsenal Otechestvo” magazine Victor Murakhovsky,according to Reuters,Voice of Russia.

“The exercises that are being conducted in the Black Sea region are aimed at checking the combat readiness of multi-service forces. Ground forces, airborne troops and naval units are taking part in the exercises. To this end, new military districts and an operative strategic command have been set up so that they could handle multi-service forces in a complicated situation, including during a surprise attack by a potential enemy,” Victor Murakhovsky said.

This is the second large-scale military exercises conducted by the Russian military this year. In February, the army conducted a surprise test in combat readiness for the first time in 20 years, and the forces of the Central and Southern Military districts were gathered on alert, says director of the Centre for Strategic Environment Ivan Konovalov.

 “This is only the beginning of checking what has been achieved the forces in the past years of reform. These tests are aimed at revealing the state of the forces and finding out whether reforms have upgraded it,” Ivan Konovalov said.

M.D