Crimea’s military group is reinforced for holding exercise — Russian defense minister

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NOVO-OGARYOVO, February 11. /TASS/. The presence of Russian troops in the Crimean peninsula has been stepped up in connection with a military exercise, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin while reporting a surprise exercise in the southern military district.

"The group of troops, in particular, air forces and anti-aircraft defense in Crimea, has been reinforced for countering a massive air attack by a hypothetical enemy," Shoigu said.

The forces of the southern military district and units central federal district, airborne troops and air transport planes have been alerted and begun to perform their combat training tasks.

For the purpose of checking the systems and control of the southern and central military districts mobile control centers have been deployed in the field. For practicing the deployment of territorial defenses command centers have been created in the Rostov Region, Sevastopol and Simferopol, Shoigu said. The forces involved in the exercise were airlifted up to 3,000 kilometers and delivered to 18 proving grounds.