PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, September 23 (RIA Novosti) — Russian troops have carried out a series of combat training missions in the Arctic and used Iskander and Pantsir-S systems as part of the ongoing large-scale exercises in Russia"s Far East, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday.
"In order to protect the interests of the Russian Federation in the region [Arctic] the development of its military infrastructure is ongoing. As part of the exercise [in the far East]the Northern Fleet squadron of warships together with vessels from the Murmansk Shipping Company and Atomflot icebreakers have conducted the delivery of personnel and equipment to Kotelny Island [New Siberian Islands archipelago]," Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin in a video conference call from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The minister also said that during the exercise on Kotelny Island, Pantsir-S systems performed live firing on target, launched by the mobile coastal missile system Rubezh. "The target was hit successfully." And tactical ballistic missile complexes Iskander-M hit two targets at a range of 200 kilometers (124 miles).
The Vostok-2014 strategic military exercise in the Eastern Military District is taking place from September 19 to 25. The exercise was preceded by unannounced combat readiness checks.
