This week, a large-scale strategic command-and-staff exercise Kavkaz-2016 started at the ranges of the Southern Military District, including the waters of the Black and Caspian Seas. Dozens of ships, hundreds of aviation units, armored vehicles, artillery and anti-aircraft systems, more than 12.5 thousand servicemen of all types and numerous types of troops - from communications to winged infantry.
Before touching on the Kavkaz-2016 command and control squad in more detail, it is worth paying attention to what concerns the reaction to the exercise. And this reaction is frankly restrained, both inside Russia and abroad. The Western press is no longer trying to outmaneuver each other in publishing materials from the series: "Russia, without warning partners, is conducting exercises near the borders of NATO" or "Russia is showing the grin of militarism." Neither you statements about "grins", nor you attacks about what is "on the doorstep." Even the Balts, and they keep quiet, noting only the usual phrases about the "Russian threat", while not adding these statements directly to the launched Russian maneuvers. Either they decided for themselves that Kavkaz-2016 is too far from the borders of the small, but insanely proud, Baltic republics, or they are still choosing words to once again express their concerns.
In Russia itself, the reaction to the exercises is also restrained. There are no longer those poking around from the category "was the check of combat readiness before the start of the exercises really sudden or is it still in full combat - under a blanket?" There are no dashing interpretations that "we will tear everyone apart" and that "if a strategic command and staff exercise is held, it means that in the next hours or minutes the Russian paratroopers will take either Kiev, or Berlin, or Washington."
Separate exclamations appear: “it would be better if the elderly were paid a pension instead of spending on these exercises,” but the fact of the matter is that the exclamations are separate … so isolated that even among liberal bloggers they do not always find warm support. People who continue to link the size of their pension to the conduct of exercises in our country can be caught in the fact that they live in categories from some 2011-2012, when pots on their heads (or instead of a head) were still in vogue in Russia in isolated environments, as well as white ribbons on glamorous pinjacks.
There is complete confidence that the frequency of major military maneuvers conducted by the Russian Ministry of Defense has taught everyone (from all-lost liberals to hurray-patriots) that this is serious and for a long time - once, and at the same time is a routine systematic training of troops - with the improvement of skills and abilities - two. Large-scale exercises in various Russian districts with the transfer of servicemen even many thousands of kilometers from the places of permanent deployment of their subunits (units) have become a normal practice for Russia. And the attitude to this after years of post-Soviet devastation both in the closets, in the heads, and in the troops has become an attitude as to what has become a common thing.
Based on this, there is a possibility without any conspiracy external raid “about the paratroopers on the lawn in front of the White House” and without “what kind of teachings? so … they rattle with old iron … to discuss what happens during the Kavkaz-2016 command and control squad.
And training and combat work is taking place in one of the most important areas, which already in the history of modern Russia has become a real theater of military operations. The fire of a major war in this direction was extinguished by enormous forces and means, but this fact does not cause positive emotions for everyone. There are many "friends" who sleep and see that the Caucasus is on fire again. And not always, by the way, they “sleep”, but they actively (and quite openly) sponsor motley groups that, under the slogans of either creating a “caliphate”, or screaming about “defending the rights of the humiliated, insulted and wounded” try to fan the flames. And for such people, large-scale exercises of Russian troops in the Caucasus are like a knife in one place. First, any preparation of the Russian army to repel aggression is an unnecessary headache for such persons. Secondly, formations made up of local units integrated into federal power structures are actively involved in the exercises.
Of course, it is possible to understand those people who believe that this very integration (of the same Chechen special forces) into federal structures is almost a surrender of Russian interests - on the basis of the fact that many troops during the two Chechen campaigns. However, here one must ask the question, what exactly are Russia's interests today.
If it is about “eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” then the destructive message of the 90s “Stop feeding the Caucasus” (then “stop feeding the Urals”, “stop feeding Moscow, Siberia” and etc.). If the interests of Russia are still in the fact that the country maintains its unity and follows the path of development based on the interests of all regions and nationalities, then it is time to rethink the very meaning of the Caucasian armed conflicts for Russia. And this especially needs to be done taking into account the fact that individuals who once plunged the country into the chaos of strife have opened huge Centers, whose territory and content are many times greater than all domestic museums in memory of the victims and heroes of such conflicts.
Now, in fact, about the course of the exercises.
The General Staff of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation organized several segments for conducting exercises: sea and land. So, at the Krasnodar and North Ossetian training grounds, Molkino and Tarskoye motorized rifle formations of the Southern Military District and Western Military District carried out an operation to encircle and destroy a mock enemy. The servicemen of the Russian military base stationed in the Republic of Abkhazia were involved in the operation to destroy the grouping, which ended up in the fire cauldron. The destruction of the mock enemy was carried out using BMP-3, BTR-80A, T-72BM and T-90A tanks, Msta-S self-propelled howitzers, multiple launch rocket systems, and anti-aircraft missile systems.
The forces of the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla conducted exercises as part of diverse groupings, naval strike groups, as well as detachments of landing ships. During the maneuvers, combat ships of various classes are involved - frigates, small missile ships and missile boats. Exercises of naval combat crews were carried out, rescue tasks were solved, as well as tasks for anti-submarine sabotage and mine defense.
In the course of the Kavkaz-2016 command and control squadron, the Crimean training grounds are also involved. So, the crews of the Aerospace Forces of the Western Military District carried out bombing and performed takeoff and landing operations at unfamiliar airfields.
From the press service of the main defense department:
The crews of the aircraft of the Western Military District (ZVO) performed group and single takeoffs from an unfamiliar airfield, conducting aerial combat using rocket and cannon weapons, and destroying ground targets using P-50T aerial bombs. These bombs, intended for training flight personnel, do not explode when they hit the target, but give a colored light-smoke signal like a regular firecracker.
The goal of tactical flight training (LTU) is to improve the skills of pilots when working from an operational airfield over an unfamiliar terrain. It involved 6 MiG-29 fighters relocated from Kursk to Armavir. During the LTU, the crews dropped 12 training bombs.
The military personnel of the Airborne Forces are involved in the exercises, solving the assigned tasks using new equipment and technology that entered the troops.
The message of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation:
The exercise involved modern BMD-2KU airborne combat vehicles equipped with firing systems, the latest digital reconnaissance, control and communications systems "Strelets", integrated with automated command and control systems (ACCS) in the tactical link "Polet-K" and "Andromeda-D" …
Combat training exercises within the framework of the Kavkaz-2016 command and control system are one of the steps to ensure security and protect the national interests of the country.
And about "little howling" and "lingering concerns" … So the "partners" seem to get used to it, the acuity of attention is dulled … Not dulled yet? Well, nothing - for such, the Ministry of Defense has everything - both a margin of patience, and a box of unpredictability.
