Russian strategic missile force completes largest ever drills

The Defense Ministry of Russia on Monday announced that its Strategic Missile Force (RVSN) has completed the largest ever drills in recent years.

The drills, which began last Thursday, with participation of more than 30 regiments stationed in the country's 20 regions, ranging from Tver in central Russia to Irkutsk in Southern Siberia, were mainly aimed at testing the ability of rocket divisions and regiments and helping them gain the highest combat preparedness for any situation, said RVSN spokesman Igor Yegorov.

The participants of the exercises included engineering troops, radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, as well as anti-sabotage units, Yegorov said, adding that unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as RKhM-4 chemical reconnaissance vehicles and drones, had also been used.

"RVSN units had more than 600 combat drills, including the operations of survivability of military divisions armed with the Topol, Topol-M and Yars inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in various combat environment," Yegorov was quoted by Tass news agency as saying.

Russia has been increasing its military and defense exercises as the country's economy has been reeling amid western sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine crisis and falling oil prices.

Also on Monday, the Black Sea Fleet press service reported that Russian naval ships conducted live artillery firing exercises against sea and air targets in the eastern part of Mediterranean Sea.

Russia planned to carry out more than 4,000 drills this year, including 100 drills by RVSN, according to earlier reports from Russian Defense Ministry. Endite