FIRST PHASE OF CIS AIR AND AIR DEFENCE EXERCISES STARTS IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST

RIA Novosti
20 Jun 07

Moscow, 20 June: The first stage of the Combat Commonwealth-2007 air
force and air defence exercises involving member-states of the CIS
Unified Air Defence System has got under way at the Telemba firing
range in Chita Region today, the Russian air force commander-in-chief’s
press aide, Col Aleksandr Drobyshevskiy, told RIA-Novosti.

"Under the direction of the head of the Russian air force’s combat
training directorate, Vladislav Stytsenkov, the participants in
the exercises embarked on working out the tactical scenarios of the
exercises’ plan, on the inspection of the air and air defence duty
forces, and on the repulsion of the training strikes" Drobyshevskiy
said.

The exercises will be held in four phases. The first phase will
involve the air forces and air defence forces of Belarus and the
Russian Federation, and air defence subunits of the Russian Baltic
Fleet, the air force commander-in-chief’s press aide said.

Drobyshevskiy added that "in the course of the active phase of the
first stage of the exercises (25-26 June) firing will be carried out
from S-125, S-200, S-300, Krug, and Kub anti-aircraft systems.

In addition, Su-24, Su-25, Su-27 and MiG-29 aircraft will practice
covering and troop support manoeuvres, as well as strikes at aerial
and terrestrial targets.

He went on to tell the agency that the second phase of the exercises
will take place at the Ashuluk firing range (Astrakhan Region) in
the second half of August and will involve the air forces and air
defence forces of Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.

The concluding third and fourth phases will take place at the end
of August and the beginning of September 2007 at firing ranges in
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.