Russia to conduct over 500 military drills this summer

MOSCOW, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Armed Forces will conduct more than 500 drills starting from June 1, a senior defense official said on Friday.

"We are going to hold in summer over 500 drills of various capacities," First Deputy Defense Minister Arkady Bakhin told reporters.

The intensive exercises were needed because a number of problems have been found during the recent inspections and unplanned exercises, Bakhin said.

"We'll take them into account during the summer training with the ground troops, air and naval forces performing tasks jointly," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

The "West 2013" joint training with Belarus in September will be the climax of the summer training, according to the general.

President Vladimir Putin made an unscheduled inspection of troops from the Southern Federal District and Airborne Forces on May 13 and urged the army to be prepared around the clock.

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