From 29 June to 6 July 2009, in accordance with the Training Plan of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, strategic exercise of the North Caucasus Military Command "Kavkaz 2009" will be carried out under the supervision of the Chief of the RF Armed Forces' Joint Staff, Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation, General Nikolay Makarov.
Staff of North Caucasus Military Command troops are engaged in the "Kavkaz 2009" exercise, as well as the interacting and subordinate structures of Air Force and Air Defense, the Caspian fleet, Novorossiysk Naval, Regional Border-guard Department of the Southern Federal District FSB, North Caucasus Regional Command of the RF Interior Ministry Internal Troops and Airborne Troops.
The "Kavkaz 2009" exercise will be conducted on the territory of Karasnodar and Stavropol krai, Astrakhan, Volgograd and Rostov oblast, North Ossetia-Alania, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Karachaevo-Cherkessia and Chechnya.
The exercise aims at assessing the actual combat and mobilization readiness of the troops deployed in the southwestern region of Russia.
The exercise will be conducted in two stages. At the first stage, the units and detachments engaged in the exercise at the point of their permanent deployment will be practicing combat readiness with a follow up advancement and deployment at exercise's starting points.
At the second stage, the joint force will conduct a special counterterrorist operation on elimination of terrorist chieftains and participants to terrorist organizations, their bases and training center, as well as complex of measures to protect highly important state objects. during the exercise, a wide spectrum of possible adequate military and security measures to protect the citizens of Russia, transport and energy supply lines and strategic sites, as well as a complex of measures aimed at protecting Russia's economic interests in the south0west region.
The troops of the North Caucasus Military Command will be represented in the exercise by the staff designed in accordance with the new set-up of the RF Armed Forces.
Through the exercise, the North Caucasus Military Command troops will be acting with an account to the experience gained during the operation on forcing Georgia to peace.
Andrey Bobrun
Head of Information and Public Relations Department of the North Caucasus Military Command.
