In addition to holding the Main Naval Parade, the meeting of the Board of the Russian Defense Ministry considered the implementation of the plan of the Western Military District in the framework of the implementation of the May decrees of the President of the Russian Federation and his instructions given at the meeting in Sochi.
According to Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, the situation in the Western strategic direction is characterized by an increase in military threats. Over the past 7 years, the intensity of flights of strategic bomber aircraft of the US Air Force in Europe has increased 14 times.
Systematically, NATO ships with guided missile weapons enter the Baltic Sea. Only last year, ships of this class performed tasks near the Kaliningrad region three times. In total, since 2016, the objective control system has recorded 18 such exits of warships to the intended launch areas of cruise missiles.
"At the same time, the United States and NATO continue to expand the scope of operational and combat training near our borders," the head of the military department said.
According to the Russian Defense Minister, the number of exercises has increased 1.5 times in recent years. Currently, the largest exercise in the last 30 years, "Defender Europe – 2021", is being held, which involves up to 40 thousand military personnel. Their main goal is to work out the transfer of a full-fledged division from the United States to Europe.
"The actions of our Western colleagues destroy the security system in the world and force us to take adequate measures to counteract them," said Army General Sergei Shoigu. — We are constantly improving the combat composition of the troops. By the end of the year, about 20 formations and military units will be formed in the Western Military District."
The head of the Russian military department noted that the organizational measures are synchronized with the supply of modern weapons and military equipment. This year, it is planned to supply about 2 thousand weapons to the district's troops.
"In addition, the training of personnel and military authorities is constantly being improved. The intensity of working out combat training tasks by the ships of the Baltic Fleet increased by 30%. More than 200 exercises with the use of various types of weapons were performed. The district's air raid increased by 4%, " the Defense Minister said.
Preparations for the joint strategic Russian-Belarusian exercise Zapad-2021, which will take place in September at the training grounds of Belarus and the Western Military District, have entered an active phase. A number of command and staff training sessions have already been conducted with the involvement of headquarters at various levels.
Starting in June, the implementation of a set of tasks within the framework of joint exercises of special forces will begin.
"I want to emphasize that the exercise" West-2021 " is planned. It is carried out by the decision of the Presidents of Russia and Belarus and is exclusively defensive in nature. Within the time limits set by international agreements, our partners will be informed about the parameters of the exercise, and international observers and journalists will be able to attend the event, " Sergei Shoigu added.
