Putin orders surprise ‘military exercises’
29 March 2013 8:14 AM IST
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered unscheduled military exercises with thousands of troops and dozens of ships in the Black Sea region to test their battle readiness, the Kremlin said.
The order was presented to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in a sealed envelope at 4:00 am (local time), his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies, adding the exercises would involve 36 ships and up to 7,000 troops. Peskov indicated that the surprise order by Putin was aimed at testing out the battle readiness of the Russian armed forces and said Moscow was not obliged to warn its partners of the plan.
‘We are talking about major exercises, intended as a check,’ he added.
The order was presented to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in a sealed envelope at 4:00 am (local time), his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies, adding the exercises would involve 36 ships and up to 7,000 troops. Peskov indicated that the surprise order by Putin was aimed at testing out the battle readiness of the Russian armed forces and said Moscow was not obliged to warn its partners of the plan.
‘We are talking about major exercises, intended as a check,’ he added.
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