The growing military activity of NATO near the borders of the Russian Federation is alarming, and the ultimatum demands to Russia to withdraw troops from certain areas of its own territory are unacceptable, according to the written response of the Russian Federation to the United States on the issue of security guarantees.

Russia will decide for itself how and in what ways to ensure its security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

24 colonels received the rank of Major General, and two captains of the 1st rank received rear admirals

Russian President Vladimir Putin by decree awarded the general ranks to 26 servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, according to a document published on the official portal of legal information.

The grouping of troops of the Eastern Military District, performing tasks for the construction of the second branch of the Baikal-Amur mainline, was strengthened with promising samples of techniques.

Gunners of the 49th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District conducted exercises using modern reconnaissance equipment at the Molkino combined arms training ground in the Krasnodar Territory, the press service of the Southern Military District reports.

The training of grenade launchers of the Eastern Military District (VVO) is being completed in six regions of the Far East. More than 2 thousand servicemen take part in them, the press service of the Air Defense Ministry reports.

Special forces soldiers of the Central Military District at night exercises near Novosibirsk destroyed the base of a conditional enemy. As told to "RG" in the press service of the Central Military District, the army training took place at the Shilovo training ground. Three hundred servicemen and twenty units of special equipment took part in the exercises.

Another echelon with military equipment of the units of the Southern Military District crossed the Crimean Bridge on its way to the point of permanent deployment after the end of the Belarusian-Russian exercises. This was announced on February 17 by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

The Russian military will return from Belarus after the exercises to their places of deployment. This was stated by Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, answering journalists' questions.

"This is out of the question now," Peskov said in response to a question about the possibility of the presence of Russian military in Belarus after the exercises. After the maneuvers, "at the end of one or another phase of the exercises, the troops are withdrawn to their permanent location," he noted.

As promised a day earlier, on Wednesday, February 16, Russian units of troops engaged in tactical exercises in the Crimea continued to withdraw from the territory of our peninsula. "An echelon with military equipment of the units of the Southern Military District crossed the Crimean Bridge by rail and proceeded to the points of permanent deployment," the military department reported.

Several tactical episodes were played out on Thursday at the joint exercise "Allied Resolve-2022" by the Russian and Belarusian military. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko observed their actions at the Osipovichsky training ground.

The first military units of the Western and Southern military Districts arrived at the permanent deployment points after the exercises, Colonel Igor Konashenkov, an official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, told reporters.

The Ministry of Defense clarified that the length of the route exceeded 1.5 thousand km

The first echelon of the motorized rifle unit of the Southern Military district stationed in Chechnya arrived at the point of permanent deployment after participating in exercises in the Crimea. This was reported to journalists on Thursday in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

On Thursday, February 17, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, made a new statement regarding the return of our troops to their places of deployment.

The units of the logistics brigade of the Western Military District (ZVO) arrived at the point of permanent deployment after the completion of the planned exercises. This was announced on Thursday, February 17, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Armored vehicles and objects of the conditional enemy were destroyed in the framework of the exercises "Allied Determination-2022", which are taking place on the territory of Belarus, by calculations of multiple rocket launchers (MLRS) The Eastern Military District, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Vladimir Putin does not have a joint inspection of military exercises in Belarus together with Alexander Lukashenko in the schedule, but the presidents can agree on "anything" at a meeting on Friday, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian leader, said on Thursday.

Belarus plans to buy or receive as a gift from Russia operational-tactical missile systems "Iskander-M", other promising weapons.

Venezuela is ready for the closest military cooperation with Russia in the event of a conflict with NATO and in a confrontation with the United States over Ukraine. This was stated by Venezuelan President Maduro at a briefing after negotiations with the Russian delegation headed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov, writes Olga Bozheva in an article for the electronic edition "MK.ru ".

Deputies of the Senate (upper house) of the Parliament of Kazakhstan at a plenary session on February 17 approved a bill on ratification of the agreement between the republic and Russia on military cooperation, RIA Novosti reports.