The military exercises, which have taken place since March 28 in southern Russia, have caused a wide response. Perhaps, in recent years, there has not yet been such a contradictory assessment of the maneuvers carried out by the Russian troops on the part of our foreign, as they say, partners. Considering how our neighbors reacted to the Russian military exercises, there are reasonable suspicions that some gentlemen from the foreign political establishment should take a course of taking a sedative …
March 28, 2013. The press service of the Russian president reports that at 4:00 Moscow time, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu receives an envelope from Vladimir Putin, opening which he learns about the beginning of a sudden large-scale exercise. After familiarizing themselves with the contents of the envelope, more than seven thousand Russian servicemen are removed from their seats and moved to the place that is defined as the territorial zone for conducting the exercises. The Black Sea water area and several military training grounds: "Raevsky", "Opuk" and "Temryuk" became the territorial zone.
According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, in addition to the seven thousandth military contingent, naval aviation, as well as 36 ships of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, which are based at bases in Novorossiysk and Sevastopol, were involved in the exercise. During the exercises, the technique of effective interaction of individual units was perfected, the tasks of combat maneuvering were performed, as well as a series of firing exercises. From Sevastopol, personnel and military equipment were loaded onto the BDK with the aim of further landing on an unequipped coast in the presence of adverse weather conditions.
The exercise was attended not only by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, but also by President (aka Supreme Commander-in-Chief) Vladimir Putin. According to preliminary estimates of the Minister of Defense, the exercises are already being conducted more smoothly than those that the military department has recently arranged, however, flaws have also been revealed in the Black Sea exercises. The specialists of the Ministry of Defense will conduct an analysis of these flaws in the very near future and will present the official results of the exercises and the level of training of the troops participating in them.
If we talk about the comments of the exercises by Russian military experts, they look quite positive. In particular, the chief of staff of the Russian Airborne Forces Nikolai Ignatov said that the exercises made it possible to test the ability of Russian military personnel to land in unfamiliar terrain, which is an encouraging precedent for continuing to improve the skills of soldiers and officers.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Viktor Chirkov noted that during the exercises, first of all, the actions of the personnel involved in the maneuvers were practiced, those shortcomings were identified, based on the analysis of which the command personnel would plan further measures to increase the combat readiness and training of personnel as on ships and on submarines, in naval aviation and ground units.
The Russian Ministry of Defense on its official website reports that all servicemen involved in the exercises on the southern borders of the Russian Federation, together with military equipment, are returning to their places of permanent deployment. In particular, the soldiers of the paratrooper battalion of the Tula Airborne Division went “home” on military transport workers. In addition, scouts of the 45th separate guards regiment of the special forces of the Airborne Forces have already returned from the exercises to Kubinka. The paratroopers of the 7th Guards Mountain Airborne Assault Division also returned to their military units (Anapa, Stavropol, Novorossiysk). Sevastopol also met the participants in the exercises. The official welcome ceremony for the ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet (Novocherkassk, Saratov, Nikolai Filchenkov, etc.) was attended by the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Fedotenkov, members of the naval military council, and also, notably, the chairman of the Sevastopol city administration Vladimir Yatsuba with the delegation.
Against the background of the exercises of the Russian army and navy that were held at the Black Sea "military theater", comments from representatives of foreign states continually appeared. It should be noted that representatives of the American authorities reacted rather calmly to Russian military maneuvers. In particular, the official representative of the US State Department, Mrs. Nuland, noted that she did not see anything reprehensible in the Russian exercises, because Russia had conducted exercises in this region before. Nuland stressed that the exercises conducted by the Russian Ministry of Defense comply with the procedures of the Vienna Document, and therefore the quote: "everything is in order." As they say: we are delighted …
However, the Georgian authorities, for example, could not agree on their official position with their American friends, apparently due to some terrible misunderstanding, for example, they gave their opinion on Russian military maneuvers to the press. For example, representatives of the Georgian Foreign Ministry expressed particular concern about the ongoing amphibious operations and sea firing, who considered that the exercises, quote:
"Are disproportionate to the expected threats and do not align with the interests of stability in Europe."
An interesting remark from Georgian politicians, isn't it. Based on these statements, it turns out that the department headed by Mrs. Panjikidze knows a priori what threats await Russia in the Black Sea region. Well, if these exercises are "disproportionate", then the Georgian Foreign Ministry knows the exact level of proportionality … And about the threat to stability in Europe: it turns out that if the exercises are conducted by the Georgian army with the participation of American servicemen, then this, you know, strengthens European security, but Russian exercises deal a blow to this security. If this is not a policy of double standards from the Georgian Foreign Ministry, then, excuse me, what then?..
By the way, Maya Panjikidze did not hesitate to declare that, despite any demonstration of force by Russia, Georgia will continue to make every effort to restore its territorial integrity. Tbilisi will do everything until this (restoration) happens, especially since the idea of re-entry of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is supported by the entire civilized world, - said the head of the Georgian Foreign Ministry. Well, well … This remark is worthy of a Georgian politician who de facto declares both South Ossetia and Abkhazia themselves as an uncivilized world and those states that have recognized their independence …
After their wonderful tirades, representatives of the Georgian Foreign Ministry unexpectedly announced that, in principle, they also (note, like the United States) do not see the exercises as a direct threat against them from Russia. One gets the impression that this "vision" of the issue by the Georgian Foreign Ministry manifested itself after the United States Department of State gave its assessment of the events in the Black Sea. Otherwise, why would such a turn in the assessments by almost 180 degrees?
Some Ukrainian politicians have shown no less activity in relation to the Russian exercises - especially the flank of political forces, which for its own purposes uses every opportunity to break relations between Kiev and Moscow. The main mouthpiece denouncing "Russian militarism" was the Batkivshchyna party, one of whose leaders is the main prisoner of Ukraine, Mrs. Tymoshenko. And while Yulia Vladimirovna continues to organize the theater of one actor in the Kharkov colony, her associates stigmatize not only "Moscow's desire to exert military and political pressure on Kiev," but also official Kiev itself. In particular, the representative of Batkivshchyna, Mr. Parubiy, sent a request to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense Lebedev to inform him about whether the Russian exercises on the Black Sea were legal at all … Apparently, the development of the theater of absurdity in Batkivshchyna is proceeding by leaps and bounds …
In addition to requests to Minister Lebedev, Deputy Parubiy also noted that he accused the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych of "groveling". Here is a quote belonging to the Batkivshchyna deputy, published on his page in one of the social networks:
"Because of Yanukovych's groveling behavior, Russian troops behave in Crimea like at home."
Let it be known, a gentleman by the name of Parubiy, that Crimea is a home for Russian troops, if only on the grounds that the period of stay of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on this peninsula has been extended until 2042.
Another deputy of Batkivshchyna Anatoly Gritsenko, who at one time served as the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and even ran for the presidency of the country, also presented his statements about the conducted by Russian military scientists. So Gritsenko does not share the concerns of his fellow party member. In one of the publications in the publication "Ukrainian Truth" Anatoly Gritsenko writes that Russia at the legislative level did not violate anything by conducting exercises of the Black Sea Fleet. Gritsenko believes that Russia did not embody any aggressive plans against Ukraine during the military exercises. In addition, the ex-minister reports that the Ukrainian press is in vain fanning the hype of Russian exercises, if only because Ukraine has also conducted and is conducting military exercises, but the reaction of the Russian side has always been very restrained. Here is a quote from Anatoly Gritsenko:
“For those who, perhaps, do not know: Ukraine has spent years and will continue to train its forces and equipment at training grounds located on the territory of the Russian Federation, incl. with combat launches of S-300 and S-200 long-range anti-aircraft missile systems. The population of the Russian Federation and the press did not worry about this. This is not the first or the last military exercise of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. While the fleet will be based in Ukraine - until then there will be military exercises."
At the same time, Gritsenko, without condemning Russia, condemns Yanukovych for the fact that he decided to sign an agreement with Russia to extend the terms of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea until 2042.
However, we will not go into the intricacies of Ukrainian politics, but we will analyze one of the phrases quoted by the representative of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Yevhen Perebeinis. He, stating that Russia did not violate any international norms with its exercises on the Black Sea, says that Moscow had notified Kiev about them a few days before the start of the exercises.
"According to the information that we have from the Ministry of Defense (Ukraine), the Russian side, in accordance with all bilateral agreements concluded by Ukraine and the Russian Federation, informed the Ukrainian side in advance of the conduct of these exercises."
This statement by the representative of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry does not fit with what was stated by the press secretary of Vladimir Putin, Peskov. After all, as we remember, Peskov said that the exercises began by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Federation suddenly, and even the Ministry of Defense knew nothing about the exercises.
How so? Is Perebeinis really cunning and hasn't received any official notifications from Moscow to Kiev? Or is Dmitry Peskov disingenuous? But are they cunning …
It can be assumed that for the Russian army, these exercises really became sudden, and until 4:00 on March 28, the commanders on the ground did not really know anything about their start. The fact that the Minister of Defense himself did not know about the possible start of military exercises is, of course, rather doubtful. Perhaps, he did not know the exact hour of the start of the exercises, as did the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, but that the beginning was not far off, as they say, he guessed … It turns out that there is nothing sensational in the messages of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry: Moscow really could have informed the Ukrainian partners in advance, to avoid misinterpretation, and after such information, after waiting for a pause, teach and start.
Therefore, breaking spears, considering these teachings truly sudden or only half sudden, is simply pointless. This is useless. Indeed, even in Soviet times, military personnel in units often received information about "sudden" exercises at least a few hours before their start. There were, of course, also maneuvers, coupled with a complete surprise, but not always and not everywhere …
That is why in the Russian exercises conducted in the south of the country, it is important not to look for the background that acted as someone's contrived background, and to calculate the degree of their surprise, but to understand that the very conduct of sufficiently large-scale exercises for the Russian army and the build-up of its combat capability is great blessing. And what the representatives of foreign states think about this is the tenth thing.
