ROSTOV-ON-DON. July 23 (Interfax) - Two-side battalion tactical drills of the Southern Military District are taking place simultaneously in eleven regions of southern Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the district's press service said.
"Battalion tactical groups of motorized infantry, armored and artillery troops execute training tasks with live-fire drills at combined-arms training ranges in the Astrakhan, Volgograd and Rostov regions, Stavropol Territory, Dagestan, North Ossetia, Adygea, Chechnya, in Crimea, and also at the Southern Military District's military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia," the statement reads.
Over 10,000 troops are taking part, it said.
Members of various armed services and special troops are taking part in the exercise within motorized-infantry battalions and artillery units. Fire support and landing-personnel transportation are provided by the aircraft and helicopters of the District's Air Force and Air Defense.
The live-fire stages involve artillery battalions and batteries of the multiple rocket launch systems Tornado, Grad, the self-propelled howitzers Msta-S, Gvozdika and Akatsiya, and the high-power mortars Tulpan and Malka. Additionally, T-72B3 and T-90 tanks and the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles are being used in reconnaisance.
"The battalion tactical exercises, and a number of special ones, are the main preparation for the Caucasus 2020 strategic command post exercise," the Southern Military District's Commander Gen. of the Army Alexander Dvornikov said.
He tasked the regional command center to ensure that all training sites be video-monitored in real time.
"Video signal should be provided by the dome cameras installed at the combined-arms training ranges and by drone cameras during marches and tactical games," Dvornikov said.
In all, the district's summer training plan comprises over 20 two-side battalion tactical exercises and more than ten logistics ones.