MOSCOW, October 3 (AVN) - The report on the oncoming training in Western Russia published by some of the Russian mass media was a deliberate disinformation of the RF General Staff, Colonel-General Vladislav Putilin, head of the General Staff organisational and mobilisation department, told the Military News Agency.
Actually the training started in the Leningrad military district on Monday at 16.00 Moscow time (GMT 1200). At present the military committees of the Pskov, Leningrad, Novgorod regions and St. Petersburg are drafting for 10-day training about 2,000 reservists, over 400 of them being officers.
The task of the training is to practise the mechanism of draft in case of war, survey the combat abilities of reservists, establish interaction with drafting organisations.
According to Putilin, the practical mobilisation was planned back in 1999.
This is the first reservist training of the post-soviet era of such a scale. The Defence Ministry found the money for the manoeuvres only this year. The mustered reservists will receive allowances for military incumbency and rank. The officers will receive some RUR1,000 (USD36) for the 10 days of the training.