Surprise check of Northern Fleet helps strategic command practice troop control - Shoigu
MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax) - The surprise check of the Northern Fleet "is of special significance", Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said.
"It permits the newly formed Joint Strategic Command to exercise troop command and control issues in practice for the first time," he said.
"In addition, arms and military hardware received by the Northern Fleet recently will be tested," he said.
Shoigu said that along with checking troops deployed in Russia's Arctic several units and formations of the Western, Southern, Central and Eastern military districts, the Air-Borne Forces, strategic and military-transport aviation were alerted and taken to designated areas.
"A tactical buildup of combat capabilities of troop groupings in the Arctic, Baltic and Crimea was conducted," the minister said.
He said that a team led by Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Gen. Valery Gerasimov is currently working at the Northern Fleet. The team includes Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Dmitry Bulgakov, the heads of Defense Ministry departments.
"On the whole over 80 officers from central military command bodies control the current checkup," Shoigu said.
He reiterated that the surprise check of the Northern Fleet is conducted on March 16 through 21 in keeping with a decision of Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin.
"Such measures regularly conducted in recent years have demonstrated their high effectiveness," Shoigu said.
They "permit an objective evaluation of the true standard of the combat readiness of military control bodies, army units and formations, their ability to carry out set tasks," the minister said.
This especially applies to surprise tasks fulfilled in unfamiliar terrain, Shoigu added.
