Russia and Nato launch rival war games

Russia launches 'mass surprise drill' war games in response to Nato exercise after deputy PM jokes that 'our tanks don't need visas'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/11629721/Russia-and-Nato-launch-rival-war-games-in-Arctic.html

Self-propelled howitzers are seen during a training session at the Kuzminsky military training ground near the Russian-Ukrainian border in Rostov region Photo: REUTERS

TransferWise, the smart new way to send money abroad

Freedom, transparency and no more hidden bank fees. TransferWise is the new, transparent and cost-effective way to make money transfers around the world saving you up to 89%

Sponsored by TransferWise

By Roland Oliphant, Moscow

10:43AM BST 26 May 2015

Russia and Nato have launched rival military exercises in the latest sign of rising military tensions in eastern and central Europe.

^{Troops on exercise near the Russian-Ukriane border (REUTERS)}
About 250 aircraft and 12,000 servicemen will take part in Russian combat readiness drills over the Urals mountains and Siberia in what the country's defence ministry has described as a “massive surprise inspection.”

^{Four British Eurofighter Typhoons arrive at Bodoe airbase (REUTERS)}
The snap exercises launched yesterday involving aviation and air defence forces in Russia’s central military district began on the same day Nato launched its own long-planned exercises in the Arctic.
About 100 aircraft and 4,000 servicemen will take part in “Arctic Challenge,” a Norwegian-led aviation exercise described as the “largest of its kind.”

• How Vladimir Putin's military firepower compares to the West

The two-week exercise will involve forces from Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, as well as non-Nato allies Finland, Sweden and Switzerland.

^{Troops in the Rostov region (REUTERS)}

Tensions between Russia and the North Atlantic alliance have been heightened over the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian exercises in its Western and Central military districts have been denounced as “sabre rattling” in the West, which accuses Russia of effectively invading Ukraine by stealth.

Moscow, in turn, has hit out at a series of Nato land, air, and sea exercises that the alliance says are designed to reassure eastern alliance members and non-Nato allies.

Dmitry Rogozin, the deputy prime minister with responsibility for defence, further raised tensions on the weekend when he joked on national television that “tanks don’t need visas.”

The comment came in response to a question about US and EU sanctions, which have imposed visa bans on several prominent Russian politicians and businessmen accused of involvement in the Ukraine crisis, including Mr Rogozin.

Mr Rogozin, a former leader of the far-right Rodina, or Motherland, party, is known for bombastic nationalist statements.

On Sunday he tweeted that Russia poses no threat to the West, which is facing “collapse under the onslaught of ISIS [Isil] and gays.”

COMMENT:

Russian Deputy Prime Minister should have known the saying before commenting that: Ant grow wings when it fly to catch the light to die” Mr. PM when you talk you must be conversant with your professional knowledge particularly about both theoretical and practical more so also about the effectiveness of the weapons in use OK side by side the quantity in possession Mr. Putin poodle dy. prime minister.