Russian Defense Ministry building military town, not 'huge base' in Voronezh Region - Gen. Konashenkov
MOSCOW. Sept 25 (Interfax-AVN) - A new military town, and not a 'huge military base', has been being built for several years now in the town of Boguchar in the Voronezh Region, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.
"There is nothing sensational about building a new military town located in the populated area of Boguchar in the Voronezh Region to accommodate a combined-arms formation of the Western Military District. The whole competition documentation concerning the construction of this asset has been in the public domain for over a month now, on a specialized Internet resource," Konashenkov told reporters on Friday.
"The Russian Defense Ministry is not building military bases in Russian territory because new military towns are being built to accommodate the military and their families under current plans," the spokesman said.
Foreign media said earlier that the Russian Defense Ministry is building a large military base in the town of Boguchar, 45 kilometers from the border with Ukraine's Luhansk Region. It was reported, in particular, that a former military depot would be converted into a modern military base designed to house over 1,300 pieces of military hardware and over 5,000 military personnel.
Construction of military and social infrastructure to accommodate the WMD combined-arms formation stationed in Boguchar is part of a plan to build base military towns, which was approved in late 2012, Konashenkov said.
"In 1994 this combined-arms formation was moved out of Germany where it had formed part of the Western Group of Troops, and since its re-deployment has been accommodated at Soviet-era barracks," Konashenkov said.
The new military town is being built under a standard project which will be used to build military infrastructure (barracks, administrative buildings, guardrooms and training classrooms), as well as related social infrastructure for the military and their families - a shopping and services center, a movie theater, a sports complex with a pool, schools and a kindergarten.
Once construction is complete and infrastructure commissioned, units of the combined-arms formation will be housed in the new military town.
At the same time, in building modern military infrastructure to ensure higher quality of military accommodation and training, absolute priority is given to the new construction of military towns.
"This approach allows for the raising of the efficiency of budget spending and ensuring that the military and their families have the most comfortable conditions for service and daily life," Konashenkov said.
