The active phase of the Russian-Uzbek tactical exercise "South-2021" held against the backdrop of destabilization in Afghanistan ended on Friday near the city of Termez.
Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and his Uzbek counterpart, Major General Shukhrat Khalmukhamedov, watched the final of the exercise. The commanders were shown a simulation of a special operation to prevent illegal armed formations (IAF) from crossing the state border.
The joint military group detected from the air and then suppressed a breakthrough by "large groups of illegal armed groups" into the country, after which it blocked and destroyed the "militants" who had taken refuge from pursuit in a populated area.
"The development of the exercise design was based on the experience of the Russian armed forces in fighting illegal armed formations in Syria," Lieutenant General Mikhail Teplinsky, deputy commander of the Central Military District, told reporters.
About 1,500 servicemen of the two countries and up to 200 units of armament, military and special equipment and four Tu-22M3 planes of the Russian Air Force were involved in the exercise.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the RF
Based on materials of TASS