Russian President Observes Anti-Militant Drills During Zapad-2017 Wargames

LUZHSKY RANGE (Leningrad Region) (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin visited on Monday a training range in the Leningrad region and observed anti-terrorism drills during the ongoing Russia-Belarus Zapad-2017 strategic military exercises.

According to the scenario of the drills, militants from illegal armed groups have broken through the border and formed several detachments of up to 500 people each to carry out terror attacks and subversive activities. The militants seized a number of single engine aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles at border airfields.

"[They] seem to be interested," Putin said, commenting on the matter.

The Russian troops were engaged in repelling the attacks by the militants, using Tunguska gun-missile air defense systems, Pantsir-S1 missile air defense systems and Strela-1 MANPADs to destroy air targets, while T-90 tanks, Su-24 fighter jets, Su-34 tactical bombers and Mi-24, Mi-28 and Ka-52 attack helicopters were hitting the targets on the ground.

The Zapad-2017 (West-2017) military maneuvers started on Thursday on the territory of Russia and Belarus, and will be held through Wednesday. The exercises involve about 12,700 servicemen, including up to 5,500 from Russia and about 7,200 from Belarus.