Paratroopers "seize" mock enemy's strategically important airfields in south Russia
MOSCOW. May 29 (Interfax-AVN) - Over 300 paratroopers and special-forces units in the Astrakhan region, who were put on alert on Friday as part of a surprise combat-readiness inspection among the Central Military District Air and Air Defense Forces, redeployed to training areas in Ashuluk and Kapustin Yar, where they "seized" strategically important airfields of a mock enemy.
"To conduct the hidden redeployment into the training area, around 30 Mil Mi-8, Mi-26 and Mi-35 helicopters were involved. The tactical airborne troops redeployed at the lowest possible altitude, without entering the visibility area of a mock enemy's radars," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a press release obtained by Interfax-AVN on Friday.
"The special-forces units seized the airfield's facilities after jumping from Mi-8 helicopters on a tether from altitudes of eight to 12 meters," the statement reads.
