The Russian armed forces have begun implementing steps to prepare for, and tackle, the spread of Covid-19. On 25 March, following an order from President Vladimir Putin, the military began a three-day readiness exercise at seven military training grounds and five airfields throughout the Central and Western Military Districts.
The exercise involved about 2,500 troops and 500 pieces of equipment, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The ministry reported that soldiers practised the procedures for implementing lockdowns, decontaminating bases and civilian and military vehicles, deploying hospitals and equipment, and treating patients. It published photographs showing military police and motorised battalions operating checkpoints with UAZ pick-up trucks equipped with 12.7 mm Kord machine guns while chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) protection troops use ARS-14KM systems to decontaminate queues of civilian vehicles.
The Central Military District deployed five mobile medical intelligence posts at exercise areas throughout central Russia and a field hospital with X-ray facilities, operating theatres, and an intensive care ward at the Yekaterinburg training ground.
At airfields, CBRN units decontaminated the interiors of transport aircraft. The MoD reported that CBRN and military aviation troops in the Saratov Oblast practised loading ARS-14KM and TMS-65M decontamination vehicles and MKA pathogenic analysis systems into 10 Il-76 transport aircraft to ensure the equipment can be rapidly deployed by air if needed.
The MoD's TV Zvezda reported that as of 31 March 4,035 Russian soldiers had been tested for Covid-19, including Defence Minister Sergei Shogiu on a return flight from Syria on 23 March, and there have been no reported cases of Covid-19 in the Russian military. The MoD has delayed the draft programme, which was scheduled to begin on 1 April, with fresh conscripts not deploying to duty stations until 20 May, Colonel General Yevgeny Burdinskogo of the Russian general staff told military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda ( Red Star ) on 31 March.
Source - Jane's
