95,000 Russian troops in massive military drill
*US officials says Russia positioning tanks at Syrian airfield
MOSCOW: Russia on Monday launched its largest military exercises of the year, Centre-2015, involving some 95,000 soldiers including ground troops, navy and airforce units.
The long-announced war games are "the most large-scale drill of 2015," the defence ministry said.
Russia has recently intensified snap checks of its military might, testing its capabilities from the Arctic to the Far East as relations with the West have plunged to a post-Cold War low over the Ukraine crisis.
Centre-2015 takes place at 20 sites across Russia's central military district, which reaches from the Volga River to the Ural mountains and Siberia in the east, while also including far northern Russia.
Troops from member states of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), made up of several ex-Soviet countries, are also involved in the exercise. The defence ministry said the war games are aimed at testing the readiness of the military of the CSTO countries to "manage coalition groups of troops in containing an international armed conflict."
The troops will simulate "blocking and destroying illegal armed formations during joint special operations," the ministry said. The drill begins as leaders are to arrive in Tajikistan for a summit of the CSTO that starts Tuesday. The exercises running to September 20 include 20 naval ships and up to 170 aircraft, the defence ministry said. President Vladimir Putin will observe the drills during one of the days, Russian daily Izvestia reported last week, without giving details.
The main action will take place in the Urals, in the Siberian Altai region and in the southern Astrakhan region and the Caspian Sea, the commander of troops in Russia's central military district, Vladimir Zarudnitsky told journalists, quoted by Interfax news agency. In European Russia, 12,000 troops will take part in drills at military ranges in the Urals region close to Kazakhstan involving around 90 tanks as well as 20 artillery and rocket launcher systems. Kazakh troops will also take part and a military delegation from Nicaragua will act as monitors, Zarudnitsky added.
Meanwhile, Russia has positioned about a half dozen tanks at an airfield at the center of a military buildup in Syria, two US officials said on Monday, adding that the intentions of Moscow's latest deployment of heavy military equipment were unclear.
Moscow has come under increased international pressure in recent days to explain its moves in Syria, where the Kremlin has been supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a 4-1/2-year war.
The Pentagon declined to directly comment on the Reuters report, saying it could not discuss US intelligence. But a spokesman said recent actions by Moscow suggested plans to establish a forward air operating base.
"We have seen movement of people and things that would indicate that they plan to use that base there, south of Latakia, as a forward air operating base," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told a news briefing.
One of the US officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said seven Russian T-90 tanks had been observed at the airfield near Latakia, an Assad stronghold.
The two US officials said Russia had also stationed artillery that appeared to be arrayed defensively to protect Russian personnel stationed there.
Reuters has previously reported that Russia had deployed about 200 naval infantry soldiers to the airfield, as well as temporary housing units, a portable air traffic control station and components for an air defense system.
In a sign of the pace of Russia's buildup, Moscow has been sending about two military cargo flights a day to the airfield over the past week, US officials say.
A diplomatic source, speaking to Reuters in the region on condition of anonymity, said the Russians were working to improve the airfield. "There have been trucks going in and out. It appears the runway is not suited to some types of aircraft yet and they have been doing some improvements," the diplomat said.
Russia has said it will continue providing military supplies to Syria and that its assistance to the Syrian army is in line with international law.
The United States is using Syrian airspace to lead a campaign of air strikes against Islamic State. A greater Russian presence raises the prospect of the Cold War superpower foes encountering each other on the battlefield.
So far, Russia has not sent combat aircraft or helicopter gunships to the airfield, the Pentagon said. Both Moscow and Washington say their enemy is Islamic State, whose Islamist fighters control large parts of Syria and Iraq. But Russia supports the government of Assad in Syria, while the United States says his presence makes the situation worse. The Syrian civil war, in which about 250,000 people have died, has caused nearly half of Syria's prewar population of 23 million to flee, with many thousands attempting to reach Europe.
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