Sergei ends large-scale drills in Russia’s south after goals achieved

OPUK TRAINING GROUND (TASS): Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made a decision on Thursday to wrap up troops’ surprise combat readiness checks in the Southern and Western Military Districts after all the goals were achieved.

“I believe that the surprise inspection’s goals have been achieved in full. The troops demonstrated ability to reliably defend the country. Therefore, I have made a decision to complete the inspection measures in the Southern and Western Military Districts,” the defense chief said at a meeting in Crimea on the results of the operations of the troops of the Southern Military District and the Airborne Force.

The defense minister set the task for “the General Staff, the commanders of the military districts’ troops and the airborne forces to plan and start returning the troops to their permanent stations from April 23, carry out a detailed analysis and sum up the results of the troops’ surprise inspection.”