Russian military conducts training, not exercise

Russian General Staff informed reporters that Russian military is not conducting big military exercise on the scenario of nuclear war (Russian Army has not done this for the last 20 years), it is having strategic training for the Staff on commanding the troops.
First Deputy Head of Russian General Staff, Colonel-General Yury Baluevsky denied the information of mass media that Russia is demonstrating its nuclear weapons capacity. “We are just checking the military theory by practice”, said Baluevsky.

He said that one of the purposes of the military training conducted since January 20 is mastering the new techniques of using non-nuclear military force and weapons, taking into account the new threats for Russia.

According to the Colonel-General, training means using maps for projecting imaginative battles, while exercise involves real troops. However, small number of troops are involved in the current training – less than 9,000 of ground troops, 250 tanks and 500 armored vehicles. Because of the small number of the soldiers involved, Russia is not required to notify other countries of the training.

According to the training scenario, while protecting Russia from the imaginative enemy aggression, military units will be checked for the capacity to be transferred in big distances. During this training the scientific research and practical test results on creating and applying of strategic means of military fight will be utilized, including counter-balance to such most modern weapons as anti-missile defense. The General Staff has not informed on the training area, but reported that the rumors of enlisting reservists for the training are false.

The enemy is imaginative, there is no hint at the USA or Europe. The training will be conducted at the territory of all six military districts. No assignments for intercontinental ballistic missiles. Flights of strategic Air Force are scheduled, but the plane are not going to launch missiles. (Mass media reported about launching missiles in the Atlantic). There is no information if the Chief Commander, President Putin will participate in the training.

There are no grounds for sensation, Russian General Staff believes. The US military conducts similar exercise “Global Shield” every year, and nobody is panicking. Russian military training will have several stages, but the time of its completion is unknown: some stages can be revised again. One thing is obvious: Russian military command is preparing itself for different scenarios, being alarmed by the US new military doctrine naming nuclear warheads as the weapon of the battlefield, intention to create nuclear mini-warheads, constructing US anti-missile defense system and extending military budget.

Nikolai Poroskov

Source: Vremya