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Russian DM reports to president on new arms & recent exercises

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  • Russian DM reports to president on new arms & recent exercises

    RIA Novosti, Russia
    Aug 9 2004

    RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER REPORTS TO PRESIDENT ON NEW ARMS AND RECENT
    EXERCISES


    MOSCOW, August 9 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Defense Ministry has
    decided to provide war fighters Su-24 with a new system of high
    precision weapons "shot and forgot". Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov
    said this at the president's meeting with the government on Monday.

    Late last week, the Russian defense minister said that Su-24 fighters
    would be modernized and purchased for the Russian Armed Forces, at a
    press conference at the Edelveis (Kyrgyzstan) testing range after the
    Rubezh-2004 exercises.

    "This aircraft can successfully work in the mountains. We are
    beginning to modernize aircraft of the Russian Air Force and are
    putting them on the production line. We are beginning to purchase
    this equipment, and we have no doubt about these aircraft," said
    Ivanov.

    Ivanov also said that the Russian Defense Ministry would forward
    proposals to the president about forming and arming two mountain
    brigades.

    According to the defense minister, "we are planning to complete the
    formation of the two mountain brigades by next year."

    Earlier, the president instructed to form a subdivision to serve in
    the North Caucasus and help border guards defend the border.

    Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reported to the president and
    the government about the exercises on the Kola peninsula and in
    Kyrgyzstan.

    The minister said that the exercises were aimed to drill measures to
    provide security of transporting nuclear materials and eliminating
    the consequences of an attack on a convoy.

    "The super tank used for transporting nuclear materials was shelled
    from grenade throwers, derailed and sunk in a reservoir," the
    minister said.

    In his words, the exercises involved 1,000 servicemen of the Defense
    Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the FSB, the Federal Agency for
    Nuclear Energy, and also 500 units of special equipment.

    Ivanov also noted that the exercises were positively assessed by the
    attending NATO observers.

    "We expect that our experts will be able to gain an insight into the
    situation in this sphere in a NATO nuclear country," said Ivanov.

    As for exercises in Kyrgyztsan, the minister noted that these were
    the first serious exercises of the Collective Rapid Deployment
    Forces. Participating in the exercises were Russia, Kyrgyzstan,
    Belarus, and Armenia. On the Russian side, the exercises involved the
    commandos of the Volga-Urals military district, and also 30 units of
    combat aviation, combat helicopters, transport helicopters and the
    Ka-50 helicopter Black Shark.

    Ivanov said that the combat aviation used high precision weapons
    based on the "shot-and-forgot" principle in Kyrgyzstan.

    Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told the president about the situation
    around funding servicemen's housing. Direct federal spending on the
    accumulative and mortgage crediting program for servicemen will
    amount to 2.5 billion rubles ($1 equals about 29 rubles) in 2005, he
    said. The minister stressed that the federal budget would pay the
    first contribution and interest on the mortgage.

    Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref in turn said
    that before the draft law on servicemen's housing provision comes
    into force on January 1, another three draft laws would have to be
    adopted along with 20 government resolutions.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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