Russian instructors trained 3,000 soldiers from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan in 2 years
YEKATERINBURG. Sept 19 (Interfax) - Instructors from Russia's Central Military District trained about 3,000 soldiers from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in infantry, tank, and reconnaissance skills over a two-year period, according to the press service of the district.
"In Tajikistan, four battalion task groups were trained, and over 60 vehicles were repaired and restored at Military Base No. 201. Tajik servicemen were trained as gunners and drivers of T-72 and BMP-2 tanks, drivers of BTR-80 armored infantry vehicles, commanders, and gunners of Grad multiple rocket launchers. The training of junior specialists was organized at the beginning of 2015 under an agreement on the presence of a Russian military base in the territory of Tajikistan," the press service quoted the Commander of the Troops of the Central Military District, Lt. Gen. Alexander Lapin, as saying.
He said that this year, for the first time, junior specialists were trained in 17 military skills for two battalion task groups of the Kyrgyz Armed Forces over 1,200 servicemen strong. The training at the Ala-Too and Edelweiss firing ranges lasted a month and ended in September. It was organized under agreements reached between the General Staffs of the two countries.
Lapin said that this year, officers of the Uzbek Armed Forces received training on the grounds of the 2nd Combined-Arms Army of the Central Military District. Sixty-seven instructive and practical training sessions were conducted.