Russia to hold first large-scale exercises on Caspian over past 10 years

Large-scale military exercises will be launched on the Caspian Sea in early August.

As Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov who is currently in Norway on a short-term visit, stressed, "this event will, in fact, be anti-terrorist exercises." According to the Russian high-ranking official, "these will be the first Russian exercises involving not only the Defence Ministry, but also the Frontier Service, the Emergencies Ministry, Railroad Troops, the Federal Security Service /with a special plan/, Interior Forces and even one civilian department - the Transport Ministry." Ivanov said that Kazakh and Azeri men-of-war and aircraft would also take part in the Caspian exercises in line with relevant requests submitted by their governments. Two other Caspian countries, Iran and Turkmenistan, have not yet confirmed their participation in the event.