MOSCOW. June 3 (Interfax) - The building of new major groups of armed forces in western and other parts of Russia, as well as the redeployment of troops inside the country, does not violate international agreements signed by Russia, Lt. Gen. Yevgeny Buzhinsky, a former chief of the Russian Defense Ministry international legal directorate, told Interfax-AVN on Friday.
"International military law has no relation to the Russian armed forces' activities in its own territory, aimed at ensuring the state's defense from external threats," Buzhinsky said.
The ideological warfare started by the West against Russia, "includes unbridled criticism of any steps Russia might take to strengthen its national armed forces," Buzhinsky said in commenting on reports that Russia has been strengthening its forces in the western part of the country by redeploying two independent motorized infantry brigades from central regions.
It was also reported that the group would be reinforced through forming three new motorized infantry divisions with headquarters in Yelnya (the Smolensk region), the Voronezh and the Rostov regions.