On Thursday, April 22, Russia's Defense Ministry said that more than 10,000 servicemen were taking part in the active phase of the joint-force military exercises on the peninsula.
As many as 1,200 units of weapons and military equipment from the combined arms formation of the Southern Military District, the Black Sea Fleet, the Caspian Flotilla and Airborne Forces are involved in the war game, including more than 40 warships and 20 support vessels.
Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoygu arrived in the Crimea. The minister inspected the areas of the deployment of military formations and equipment from the air and checked the readiness of sea and land groupings.
In early April, Shoygu announced the start of the campaign to check the combat readiness of the Russian army. Russian troops currently practice their skills on training grounds as part of tactical, special and bilateral exercises in the territory of all military districts of the Russian Federation, in regions of the Far North, on the Kuril Islands and in Kamchatka.
A total of 4,048 exercises of various scale will be held in April, including 812 bilateral exercises at 101 training grounds and 520 facilities of the material base. The large-scale campaign will touch upon all troops of the Russian Armed Forces.