February 26, 2014, Ukrainska Pravda
The Russian President ordered his Ministry of Defense to conduct an urgent comprehensive combat readiness review in the Western and Central Military Districts, according to Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu.
“According to the order of the President of the Russian Federation today at 14.00, all divisions and units of the Western Military District are on alert, as well as the 2nd Army of the Central Military District, the command of Air-Space Defense, paratrooper divisions, and short- and long-range air transport units,” said Shoygu at the MoD meeting.According to Shoygu, the “chief commander’s task is to check the readiness of the military to respond to crisis situations that pose a military threat to the country, as well as anti-terrorist, sanitary-epidemiological, and manmade disaster response.”
“The review is to be carried out from February 26 to March 3 in two phases. First, on February 26-27, the Chief of General Staff must put the troops on high combat alert and deploy troops to army and navy ranges,” said Shoygu. Second, from February 26 to March 3, the Chief of General Staff must conduct “operational-tactical exercises of the 6th and 20th Army of the Western Military District, the 2nd Army of the Central Military District, and the command of the paratrooper divisions.
In addition, as part of the second phase of the review, the Navy is to hold tactical exercises of the military units and divisions of the Northern and Baltic fleets. Units of the 1st Air Force and Air Defense command will be shifted to the operational airfields with the capacity for mid-air refueling.
Translated by Mariana Budjeryn, edited by Robin Rohrback
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/26/7016367/
