Russia, U.S. kick off joint military exercise with Moscow ceremony

Russian and U.S. military officers attended a ceremony Monday to kick off their latest joint military exercise, Torgau-2005.

The ground troops exercise, to be held at the Solnechnegorsk training ground outside Moscow and the Grafenwuehr training ground in Germany, was named after the German town where American and Soviet soldiers met up on the Elbe River in 1945 as the Allied victory in World War II approached.

The exercises will last until June 3, and will include 276 servicemen, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. They will have joint training in shooting, and will use tanks, armored personnel carriers, grenade launchers and other firearms, the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Land Forces Commander in chief Alexei Maslov as saying.

Associated Press