Russia Launches Large Snap Military Exercises
Russia says it has launched large-scale snap military drills on land and in the Black and Caspian seas.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on August 25 that the drills began at 7 a.m. Moscow time in Russia's southern, western, and central military districts where troops have been put on combat alert.
The drills are taking place in military districts that encompass the Crimean Peninsula and regions that border Ukraine and NATO members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as territory spanning the Ural Mountains to central Siberia.
They will last until the end of the month, involving a variety of troops, from paratroopers to the Northern Fleet.
The exercises come a week after Russia for the first time since it began its military operation in Syria used an air base in Iran, and after President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of attempts to carry out acts of sabotage in Crimea.
Eastern European countries have been worried about their security after Moscow forcibly annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014.