ROSTOV-ON-DON. Nov 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov found that the permanent readiness units deployed in the North Caucasus lack combat capabilities.
"The level of combat effectiveness of permanent readiness divisions and smaller units is still not high enough," he said on Friday.
He emphasized that despite the measures taken by the command of the military district, no significant improvements have been observed in the state of weapons, vehicles and materiel, to say nothing of the skills of officers and ranks who are still not well qualified.
"The discipline leaves much to be desired, as well as the security of military service and duty service," he said.
He added that the antiterrorism inspection held in the units of the North Caucasus Military District just before his arrival showed that the aforementioned problems constitute the basis for the weak points found.
He also said that the primary objective of the command in the district is to develop an effective system for preventing terrorism at key installations as soon as possible.