Troops in western Russia go on combat alert in snap check

Motor rifle, artillery, missile and antiaircraft missile brigades have been put on high alert.

KALININGRAD, February 14. /TASS/. A snap combat readiness check has kicked off in Russia’s Western Military District, the District’s press office reported on Tuesday.

"By decision of Western Military District Acting Commander Lieutenant-General Viktor Astapov, a sudden combat readiness check of the district’s units and formations has started today," the press office said in a statement.

"Motor rifle, artillery, missile and antiaircraft missile brigades, control and command brigades, logistics formations, an army aviation brigade, the Leningrad naval base, and also military recruitment offices of St. Petersburg, the Pskov and the Novgorod Regions and the Republic of Karelia have been put on high alert," the statement said.

Servicemen are currently using their organic military hardware to make marches within their units to the designated areas where they will start performing assigned tasks, the statement said.

Field mobile control and communications posts have been deployed at a specialized practice range in the Leningrad Region to ensure real-time information exchange and troops’ coordination through the regional defense control center of the Western Military District’s headquarters.

Source: ITAR-TASS 14-02-2017