MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/: Armored units of Russia’s 201st military base held a tactical live-fire exercise at the Lyaur mountainous range in Tajikistan, the press office of the Central Military District reported on Monday.
"The troops conducted a vehicular march to the area of the drills and carried out an offensive operation against a notional enemy’s mechanized units that had negotiated the mountainous terrain and assumed defensive positions. The crews of combat vehicles held tactical live-fire exercises, employing the entire range of the armament of T-72 tanks against the targets located on the mountainous terrain," the press office said in a statement.
During the drills, more complex conditions were created for tank gunners to conduct the fire: the time of showing the targets had been cut and their usual position had been altered, the statement says.
"The tank personnel also practiced measures within their units to employ such tactical methods as setting up tank ambushes, making maneuvers into the enemy flank and the enemy rear, carrying out raids and interacting with attached motor rifle troops upon deployment on the terrain," the press office specified.
The one-day exercise that took place on January 20 involved over 500 personnel and about 100 items of military hardware.
Russia’s Central Military District is based on the territory of the Volga, Urals and Siberian integrated federal districts and 29 Russian regions. Structurally, the Central Military District also includes some overseas facilities: the 201st military base in Tajikistan, the Kant integrated military base in Kyrgyzstan and units stationed on the territory of Kazakhstan.
The 201st military base stationed in Tajikistan is Russia’s largest military facility outside its borders. The military base is stationed in the cities of Dushanbe and Bokhtar. The military base’s armament includes T-72 tanks, BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, Grad multiple launch rocket systems, Gvozdika and Akatsiya artillery systems.
Under the agreement signed in October 2012, Russia’s military base in Tajikistan will remain until 2042.
