Moscow. December 13. INTERFAX - Nine APL-500 field camps with a full support cycle have been established in the Southern Military District (SE) for combat training of battalion tactical groups, the press service of the district reported on Monday.
"The APL-500s are deployed on the territory of nine combined-arms ranges stationed in the Astrakhan, Volgograd and Rostov regions, in Stavropol and Kuban, in North Ossetia and in the Crimea," the report says.
It notes that the field camps were created to improve the effectiveness of combat training of battalion tactical groups of formations and military units of the Southern Military District during training at training grounds.
"The living conditions are in no way inferior to the conditions of the placement of military units in places of permanent deployment. There are places in the camp for maintenance and parking of combat training equipment that is used in the classroom," the Southern Military District said.
On December 11, the Southern Military District reported that last week more than 1.5 thousand tankers of formations and military units of the district conducted live firing in the field.
Tank crews performed exercises in the conditions of desert and mountain-wooded areas of the polygons located in the Volgograd and Rostov regions, Crimea, Adygea, Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Karachay-Cherkessia, as well as at Russian military bases in Abkhazia, Armenia and South Ossetia, the military said.
"The combat training plan for the crews of combat vehicles provides for the study of the tactics of the battle of tank units in the offensive and defense in the daytime and at night. Combat coordination of crews, calculations and detachments of formations and military units will continue in the troops of the Southern Military District until February 2022," the message of the Southern Military District noted.
Earlier, the United States, other NATO countries and Ukraine announced the concentration of Russian troops at the Ukrainian border.
On December 9, the chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said that Russia was not planning an invasion of Ukraine. "NATO countries pay excessive attention to the movement of troops on the territory of the Russian Federation. The redeployment of units during combat training is a routine practice for the armed forces of any State. Military activity is carried out on national territory and does not require notification," Gerasimov said at a briefing for foreign military attaches.
