The Russian Defense Ministry said September 5 that 12,500 servicemen are taking part in the drills across its southern military region. The exercise will take place under the command of Col. Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, head of the Russian southern military district and, until a month ago, commander of Russian forces in Syria.
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The command-staff exercises, named “Caucasus 2016”, will last till Sept.10.
The six-day exercises will test the army’s ability to “plan, prepare, and carry out military actions”, the ministry said in a statement. The Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla squadrons left home bases and began moving to the Opuk sea range in Crimea and the north-western part of the Caspian Sea.
The Defense Ministry’s press-service recalled that within the framework of preparations for the Kavkaz-2016 exercise twelve special logistics drills were held in August.
The force grouping of the Southern Military District was bolstered by 11.2 thousand of troops from the Western, Central, Eastern Military Districts and airborne units.
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In 2015 the Russian Armed Forces held a strategic exercise called Center-2015, with about 95,00 troops, 170 aircraft and 20 ships taking part.
