Russian Defence Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu held Board session of the military department
Today, the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation General of the Army Sergei Shoigu has held the Board session of the military department.
Leadership of the Russian Armed Forces, representatives of state power bodies, and rectors of leading educational establishments of the country.
Issues of implementation of activity plans of the Central and Eastern military districts and Caspian Flotilla as well as military training of civilian students were discussed during the session.
In his opening speech, the head of the military department reminded that the Central MD is responsible for the Central-Asian strategic direction, which is one of the most important ones.
According to General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, situation in the Central Asia remains unstable. The armed conflict between the government troops, Taliban, and ISIS is continued in Afghanistan.
He noted that command staff of the military district paid special attention to implementation of joint actions with armed forces of Central Asian countries in order to strengthen positions of Russia in the region.
According to him, more than 1,000 pieces of armament and military hardware are to be introduced into troops of the district. More than 400 buildings and facilities will be put into service in order to develop military infrastructure of the district.
Turning to the issue of activity plan of the Eastern MD, the Minister of Defence noted that improvement of training level, rearmament of formations and units as well as increase of combat capabilities were the most important tasks of the district.
The Eastern MD troops will receive more than 1,100 pieces of new and modernized hardware by the end of 2017. The Sovershenny corvette has been put into service of the Pacific Fleet. Rearmament of missile formations with Iskander-M and Bastion complexes will be continued.
Troops of the district have been staffed by more than 5,000 people.
According to Sergei Shoigu, the Caspian Flotilla has been protecting national interests in the south. Capabilities of the formation exceed ones of naval forces of other Caspian region countries.
“In 2015, ships of the Caspian Flotilla were the first to carry out a Kalibr cruise missile strike on positions of insurgents in Syria at the distance of more than 1,500 kilometers,” stated General of the Army Sergei Shoigu.
According to him, the Caspian Flotilla is armed with more than 70 ships and vessels, more than half of which are modern ones.
The Russian Defence Minister highlighted the military education in civilian colleges that is still a key focus of the military department.
He noted that on August 16, the Chairman of the Russian Government had signed the order to establish military education institutions in Irkutsk National Research Technical University, Moscow Power Engineering Institute, Murmansk State Technical University and Tula State University.
Before listening to the reports, the head of military department reminded that the International Military Technical Forum was to take place on August 22-27.
“The Forum is going to be unprecedented in its scale and intensity. More than 1,200 enterprises and organizations are going to take part in it. We expect to see more than 18,000 samples. 64 countries have sent their representatives to attend the Forum which is twice more than last year”, said General of the Army Sergei Shoigu.
He also pointed out that the Forum was to bring together over 300 representatives of the foreign military departments. Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Pakistan, Slovakia and South Africa will present their national exhibitions to the public.
‘The static and dynamic displays will gather more than 300 pieces of modern hardware. It will be the first time when the spectator will see the technical possibilities at night. The Turkish pilots will demonstrate the professional skills together with the Russian aerobatic teams’, said the Russian Defence Minister.
According to him, the number of scientific events had increased by one third. More than 100 round tables, presentations, briefings and conferences as well as two international special exhibitions are to be held within the Forum.
