MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - The first battalion of the Volga-Urals Military District's 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade will be sent to Abkhazia, a self-proclaimed republic in Georgia, in December 2005 to conduct peacemaking operations, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday.
Speaking at the VUMD's headquarters on a working visit, Ivanov said, "This brigade is already complete, equipped, and armed. It is the only peacemaking brigade in our armed forces and is based in the Volga-Urals Military District."
Ivanov, recently appointed deputy prime minister, said that the brigade was serving a unique role with new equipment.
He said the main goals of his working visit to the VUMD were to check levels of combat-readiness and mobilization, military discipline, law and order, the progress of the autumn call-up campaign, and the progress of the federal target program to switch to contract equipping of the VUMD's rapid reaction unit.
