Tactical drills kick off in Russia’s south

Troops belonging to Russia’s Southern Military District will take part in more than 30 bilateral company tactical exercises in the coming weeks, which have kicked off at 15 training ranges in the country’s south, the Southern Military District’s press service said in a statement on Tuesday.

The drills are taking place in the Volgograd and Stavropol Regions, in Adygea, Chechnya, Dagestan, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia and Ingushetia, as well as at Russian military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Each of the exercises involves about 400 troops and some 80 pieces of military and special equipment. They will particularly involve the T-72B3 tanks, the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, the BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, the Kornet and Khrizantema-S anti-tank missile systems and various artillery pieces.

"Over 30 bilateral company tactical exercises involving the Southern Military District’s troops will be held in the coming three weeks. The tactical drills will involve reinforced companies of the battalion tactical groups of combined armies, the Caspian Flotilla and the Southern Military District’s Army Corps. The troops will perform combat training tasks at 15 combined training grounds in the Southern Military District," the statement reads.