Operational-strategic exercises in the North Caucasus become an operation to destroy extremists.
In synch with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's tour of the North Caucasus republics, the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation under the command of Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev launched an operational-strategic exercise that became unexpectedly real. Troops in Ingushetia carried out their counterterrorist operation against a band of militants discovered shortly after the prime minister's departure.
After the fighting, which started yesterday, six militants were killed at a farm near the village of Ekazhevo, Nazran district. The special operation took place not far from the Ingush capital of Magas, where the Russian prime minister was presiding over a government meeting on the social development of the Republic that lasted almost the whole day. The security forces say they have also detained six suspects. According to tentative information, five security police were wounded during the operation.
Our sources at the Chief Command of the Interior Ministry Troops say that Vladimir Putin had been apprised of the militants' plan on the eve of the troop exercise. However, our source denied the theory that the operational-strategic exercise and the counterterrorist operation were timed to coincide with the prime minister's visit to the region. "This was a routine operational-strategic exercise organized to upgrade the professional skills of the Interior Troops," a high-ranking officer at the Chief Command said on condition of anonymity. He said that the exercises would last several days and that they involved not only Interior Ministry troops of the North Caucasus Federal District, but also the military units of the Central, Northwestern, and Volga Regional Commands and the operational detached division of the Interior Troops.
Thus, the 200,000-strong Interior Ministry forces have at least 100,000-120,000 troops on full alert in European Russia.
It has not been announced how long the counterterrorist operation in Ingushetia will last. The Interior Ministry does not conceal the fact that Interior Troops and other military structures were engaged in real combat not only there, but in other hot spots in the North Caucasus Federal District, notably Chechnya and Dagestan. Part of the military exercises that were scheduled was to practice in airlifting troops from Central Russia to hot spots in the North Caucasus. The Interior Ministry had organized such a training operation last year, but apparently the situation requires repeated exercise.
Sources at the administration of the President's Plenipotentiary Representative to the North Caucasus Federal District, Alexander Khloponin, say that an inter-agency plan detailing measures to fight extremists and terrorists in the district has been developed for 2010-2014. Meanwhile, in addition to the Prosecutor General, the Interior Ministry's main directorate for the North Caucasus Federal District and a similar branch of the Federal Drug Control Service will open their offices in the district's new administrative capital, Pyatigorsk.
Vladimir Mukhin
