How the military learned to defend the peninsula. The army in the south was alerted In September, military exercises will be held

The strategic command and staff exercise "Kavkaz-2016" started in the south of Russia

The Kavkaz-2016 strategic command and staff exercise (SKShU) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation "Kavkaz-2016" has started on the territory of the Southern Military District. This was reported by the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

This exercise is the final stage of a complex of command and staff, special exercises, training of military command and control bodies, surprise checks of the combat readiness of troops (forces) in 2016. It will take place at the training grounds of the Southern Military District, the waters of the Black and Caspian Seas from 5 to 10 September 2015.

During the exercise, the level of preparedness of military command and control bodies in leading interspecific groupings of troops (forces) will be tested, as well as practice will be given to commanders and headquarters in planning, preparing and conducting military operations. The features of this exercise are the organization of the work of command posts at all levels using the latest automation tools, the conduct of tactical episodes with the practical designation of the actions of a mock enemy, the testing of new types of weapons, military equipment and control systems, the practical development of a number of measures of mobilization readiness and territorial defense, and also the widespread use of aviation, the forces of the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla.

As part of the maneuvers, individual formations and military units of the Ground Forces, Aerospace Forces, Navy and Airborne Forces will work out tactical episodes of actions at the training grounds of the Southern Military District.

About 12.5 thousand military personnel, aviation, military equipment and ships are participating in the exercise. At the stage of preparation for the maneuvers "Kavkaz-2016", in August of this year, 12 special exercises were held for the types of comprehensive support, including for the first time for the types of support for the Navy. Also, as part of the subsequent surprise inspection of the troops (forces) of the Southern, Western and Central military districts, the Northern Fleet, the main commands of the Aerospace Forces and the Airborne Forces, a set of measures was implemented to bring the troops (forces) involved to the highest levels of combat readiness, transfer (by air, rail, sea transport and under its own power) over long distances, operational deployment and access to concentration areas.

From August 25 to 31, a sudden check of the combat and mobilization readiness of the troops of the Southern, part of the forces and means of the Western and Central military districts, the Northern Fleet, the main command of the Aerospace Forces, the command of the Airborne Forces was carried out.

On August 25, another large-scale military exercise began in the Southern Military District. The servicemen of the units and formations of the district were alerted. A sudden check of the combat readiness of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is being carried out in three military districts - Southern, Western and Central, as well as in the Northern Fleet and in the main commands of the Aerospace Forces of Russia and the Airborne Forces. This was announced to journalists by the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Sergei Shoigu.

Attention - southwest

A sudden check of combat readiness, according to Shoigu, is being carried out in the Southern Military District so that the leadership of the Ministry of Defense can assess the ability of the district to deploy self-sufficient groupings of troops in the southwestern strategic direction in a short time. The same goal has been set for the Western and Central military districts - they will also be focused on actions in the southwestern strategic direction. The southwestern direction is Ukraine.

After the events in Crimea on August 6-7, Russia's relations with this country became even more complicated. Recall that in the Crimea, attempts to penetrate the territory of the peninsula of sabotage groups were prevented. Later Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Lavrov officially declared that the sabotage groups were Ukrainian. The Russian leadership accused the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine of sending them. Two Russian servicemen killed in clash with Ukrainian saboteurs - Lieutenant Colonel of the Federal Security Service Roman Kamenev and contract serviceman of the Airborne Troops Corporal Semyon Sychev.

Events on the border with Ukraine dictate the need for increased attention of the Russian military command to the southwestern strategic direction. Anything can be expected from an unstable neighbor. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that Russia is again holding large-scale exercises in the Southern, Central and Western military districts. According to Sergei Shoigu, after checking the combat readiness, military formations and military units will go to the training grounds, where the actual exercises will begin. The military command and control bodies will also assess the mobilization readiness of the named military districts. Deputy Minister of Defense Tatyana Shevtsova instructed to evaluate the system of financial support for troops in the event of their transfer from peacetime to wartime.

The verification will be followed by the exercises "Caucasus - 2016"

The issues of organizing combat readiness checks in the Ministry of Defense were approached very seriously. Formed two working groups of generals and officers of the General Staff. The direct command of the troops will be carried out by the commanders-in-chief of all types of the Armed Forces - the Ground Forces, the Navy, the Aerospace Forces, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Airborne Forces.

Reportedly, the combat readiness check will implement the start of the military exercises "Kavkaz-2016" scheduled for September 2016. The strategic command and staff exercises "Kavkaz-2016" will be held on the territory of the Southern and North Caucasian federal districts, the maximum number of units and formations of the Southern Military District will be involved in them. As part of the exercises, it is planned to hone the interspecific interaction of the Ground Forces, the Navy, the Aerospace Forces and the Airborne Forces. The command will pay special attention to the actions of troops in mountainous areas, as well as honing the skills to counter terrorists and illegal armed groups.

Artillerymen train in the Caucasus and Crimea

Meanwhile, even before the check of the combat readiness of the troops was scheduled, large-scale military exercises of missile troops and artillery began in the Southern Military District. They take place at 18 training grounds of the Southern Military District, located in the North Caucasus and Crimea, as well as in Armenia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

11 thousand military personnel are involved in the exercises. More than 2,200 pieces of weapons and military equipment have been involved, including more than 300 artillery pieces, 200 multiple launch rocket systems, 400 mortars, and 100 anti-tank weapons. The servicemen of the missile and artillery units and subunits will have to polish the skill of firing at single and group targets from the weapons in service with the Russian army - the operational-tactical complex "Iskander-M", multiple launch rocket systems "Grad", "Hurricane" and "Tornado- G", self-propelled artillery guns "Khosta", "Acacia", MSTA-S", "MSTA-B", "Gvozdika", self-propelled artillery mounts "Bereg", coastal missile systems "Bastion" and other guns and installations.

Neighbors will be warned about military exercises

As always, the West is very interested in Russian military exercises. Deputy Minister of Defense for International Affairs Anatoly Antonov received an order from Defense Minister Shoigu to notify foreign military attachés about the combat readiness check, which, in fact, the Russian side always does before the start of large-scale military exercises.

Back in 2015, Sergei Shoigu spoke about the need to conduct large-scale military exercises in the Caucasus, linking it with the activation of terrorist organizations in the Middle East. As is known, the Russian North Caucasus is one of the regions extremely interesting for international terrorist organizations. Radical structures from the countries of the Middle East carried out sending their militants to the North Caucasus back in the 1990s - during two Chechen campaigns, and even now there are connections between the Caucasian underground and Middle Eastern organizations. Therefore, the most important task for Russian troops in the region is to be ready to counter the terrorist threat. As practice has shown, the Russian army should also be on the alert in Crimea. Here, a potential source of threats is Ukraine and Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar nationalist organizations operating on its territory, with the connivance of the Kiev authorities.

In the Southern Military District (SMD), the main stage of the Kavkaz-2016 strategic command and staff exercise ended yesterday. In the presence of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, an interspecific grouping of troops capable, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, of “stopping an attempt to seize Crimea,” repelled an attack by a mock enemy. These exercises have already caused a negative reaction from Ukraine and NATO countries.

For the final stage of the exercises, which began on September 5, the RF Ministry of Defense prepared carefully, inviting not only several dozen foreign journalists, but also military attachés from 40 countries. According to Kommersant, until the last moment, the option of visiting the Kavkaz-2016 by President Vladimir Putin was being worked out, however, due to the busy schedule (yesterday he held a meeting in Novo-Ogaryovo on the issue of financing the state armament program for 2018-2025), his visit to the landfill did not take place. The highest-ranking official at the exercises was Sergei Shoigu, who, according to a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, "personally inspected the actions of headquarters and troops" during the maneuvers.

The military say that during the "Kavkaz-2016" military formations from various districts, types and branches of forces were transferred to unfamiliar training grounds of the Southern Military District, where they created an interspecific grouping to repel an attack by a potential enemy. Thus, formations of the 1st Tank and 20th Combined Arms Armies (Western Military District), the 2nd Combined Arms Army (Central Military District), as well as units of special forces units of military districts and airborne troops, marched in a combined way over a distance of 2 thousand km. And district aviation (in particular, Su-27 fighters and Su-34 front-line bombers) performed flights at a distance of about 4 thousand km. According to Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, about 120,000 military personnel were involved in the exercises, but no more than 12,500 people were present on the territory of the Southern Military District at a time.

For five days, the Russian Defense Ministry launched missiles from air defense systems (S-400 Triumf, S-300 Favorit and Pantsir-S), played tactical episodes to encircle and destroy a mock enemy by motorized rifle and tank formations of three districts. According to representatives of the department, the maneuvers took place at 14 ranges of the Southern Military District, in the waters of the Black and Caspian Seas. For five days, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation worked out issues of mobilization readiness and actions of troops in the conduct of territorial defense. The most large-scale maneuvers took place at the Prudboy (Volgograd Region) and Opuk (Crimea) training grounds. Groupings of ships of the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla conducted naval exercises with rocket firing. "A self-sufficient grouping of troops has been created in this region, capable of repulsing attempts to seize Crimea," representatives of the agency said yesterday.

On September 7, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expressed "deep concern about the buildup of an interspecific grouping of troops on the border of Ukraine." And the Polish Ministry of Defense announced Russia's demonstration of "hostile attitude towards NATO."

According to a Kommersant source in the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces does not plan to conduct other large-scale exercises before the end of 2016, but at least one sudden check will be held in one of the districts at the direction of Vladimir Putin. Valery Gerasimov said that the summer stage of troop training will end with comprehensive inspections of military units, formations and associations of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.

STRATEGIC COMMAND-STAFF EXERCISE "CAUCASUS-2016"

STRATEGIC COMMAND-STAFF EXERCISE "KAVKAZ-2016"

01.08.2016

Almost all the main forces of the Black Sea Fleet will be involved in the strategic exercises "Kavkaz-2016", the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Alexander Vitko, told reporters on Sunday.
Strategic command and staff exercises "Kavkaz-2016" will be held on the territory of the Southern Military District in September 2016.
“Teachings, especially at a strategic level, are a large-scale complex event that requires a large involvement of equipment and personnel. Therefore, I can say that in its various stages we will involve almost all the main forces of the fleet, which will solve tasks according to a single plan as part of the forces of the Southern Military District,” Vitko said.
According to him, missile and anti-submarine ships, minesweepers, large landing ships, vessels of the auxiliary fleet are being prepared for the exercise. “The marines, coastal defense brigade, artillerymen, coastal missile units have their own tasks. Naval aviation will be involved,” the commander of the Black Sea Fleet emphasized.
RIA News

Image copyright RIA Novosti Image caption Kavkaz-2016 exercises were preceded by a sudden check of combat readiness

The Kavkaz-2016 exercises in Russia's Southern Military District attracted attention long before they began - in the West and in Ukraine, many perceived them as a veiled preparation for the outbreak of war.

These are not the largest maneuvers in recent years, only 12.5 thousand military personnel will take part in them (for comparison, about 95 thousand military personnel participated in the Center-2015 exercises).

But the exercises "Kavkaz-2016" will be held from September 5 to 10 at the training grounds of the Southern Military District, in the waters of the Black and Caspian Seas - in a rather tense region.

In addition, they were preceded by 12 smaller surprise inspections and maneuvers, which were carried out in August in the Southern Military District.

Part of the training "combat operations" will take place at the training grounds in the Crimea, which Russia included in its Southern Military District after the 2014 annexation.

Although the situation on the border between the peninsula and Ukraine remains stable, it cannot be called relaxed either.

The incident, which took place in the northern regions of Crimea in early August, put Ukraine's troops stationed near the border on alert.

At that time, experts did not rule out that this.

Moreover, there were suggestions that, under the guise of preparing for the exercises, Russia could be preparing an invasion of the territory of Ukraine.

strategic exercises

The exercises "Kavkaz-2016" are declared as strategic command and staff. This means that, first of all, they work out the interaction of command structures, headquarters, planning, preparation and conduct of military operations, operational redeployment of troops, and logistics.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, during the "Caucasus-2016", in particular, new command and control systems will be worked out.

It is reported that reservists were involved in these exercises for the first time. More than 700 people were drafted into territorial defense units (units organized to protect the population, protect facilities and law and order in the rear) from the Southern and Central military districts and the Northern Fleet.

The legend of the exercises was not indicated in the official report of the Ministry of Defense, but such maneuvers are usually indispensable without it. On the first day of the exercises, a lot of information did not appear in the press and on the special page of the Ministry of Defense dedicated to the exercises.

Image copyright RIA Novosti Image caption Experts believe that the exercises do not set themselves the task of working out a war with Ukraine

Military experts, however, say that it is possible to draw conclusions about what kind of war Russia is preparing for in the south.

The fighters deployed to Adygeya from the airfield in Karelia will be engaged in repulsing the air-missile attack and gaining air supremacy.

Against who?

According to military expert Viktor Murakhovsky, given the scale and nature of the maneuvers, as well as the theater in which military operations are being practiced, the Russian army is more likely to rehearse confrontation with NATO countries.

"Firstly, one must understand that this theater is in contact with the NATO theater of responsibility. Turkey is a NATO member, many Black Sea countries are NATO members. Despite the current relations, the military proceeds from the military potentials and capabilities of the respective countries and this military alliance as a whole" , - he said.

Another expert, Konstantin Bogdanov from Lenta.ru, believes that most likely the maneuvers are held so that the troops learn how to stop crises in the North Caucasus.

“Part of the legend can be revealed by recalling the exercises that were carried out in recent months. In particular, the last sudden training session, which took place from August 25 to 31 and the purpose of which was clearly indicated - to ensure the deployment of the group and stop possible crises in the southwestern strategic direction," he said.

As for Ukraine, according to Viktor Murakhovsky, the crisis in relations with this country has become protracted, and the Ministry of Defense is unlikely to rehearse its aggravation.

"There is no point in working out real scenarios in Ukraine now. This is rather a long-term thing. It is clear that there are such plans, and judging by the deployment of additional formations and units in this direction, they are being implemented. But in terms of aggression from this side, there are no particular fears," - said the expert.