MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax-AVN) -The 31st separate airborne brigade of permanent readiness will launch an experiment on training its units to get ready for combat actions within 24 hours on Saturday, a source in the Airborne Staff told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The number of permanent readiness units within the Airborne Troops is being increased in accordance with a directive of Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Anatoly Kvashnin, the source said.
A separate paratrooper training battalion under command of Captain Maxim Samylov has been established within the brigade to train first-year servicemen for joining the brigade's rifle, sniper and scout units. Combat support units and formations of the brigade are manned with those who have been in service for more than a year only. "The brigade is capable of accomplishing missions in trouble spots without adding personnel," the source said.
Airborne Commander Anatoly Shpak earlier told Interfax-AVN that only one brigade and four paratrooper regimens were meeting general requirements to permanent readiness units and formations of the Airborne Troops.
"Under regulatory documents, the Airborne Troops are to have four large units and nine paratrooper regiments in permanent readiness. It has been impossible so far due to the involvement of the airborne operations grouping in the Chechnya campaign. But the paratroopers may leave Chechnya before autumn and we will start establishing permanent readiness units in full accordance with regulatory documents," Shpak stressed.
The 31st brigade under command of Colonel Nikolai Nikulnikov is headquartered in the city of Ulyanovsk in the Volga region.