Over 8,000 troops involved in strategic exercises in east Russia

More than 8,000 troops are participating in strategic command-and-staff exercises in eastern Russia, the Defense Ministry said on Monday.

The exercises – Vostok-2008 – were launched on July 26 and will end on August 1 in the Siberian and Far East Military Districts, under the command of Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

The war games aim to improve the organization of territorial and civil defense, and the command and control of troops in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations.

The ministry said advanced computerized data processing and evaluation methods were being used during the exercises.

The Vostok-2008 exercises are part of a general plan for the preparation and training of the Russian Armed Forces.

Russian Patriarch urges Orthodox Church unity

The Orthodox Church unity under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate is no obstacle to the sovereignty of countries that are successors to Kievan Rus, Russian Patriarch Alexy II said on Sunday.

Alexy II made this statement following an appeal by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to the patriarch of Constantinople on Saturday to give his blessing to the country’s plans for a national church independent of Russian Orthodoxy.

“The Russian Orthodox unity cannot hinder a full-fledged life of the sovereign states that are successors to Kievan Rus. Our church respects their sovereignty and is interested in the strengthening and prosperity of their peoples,” Alexy II said after a divine liturgy served in the Ukrainian capital to mark the 1,020th anniversary of the adoption of Orthodox Christianity in Kievan Rus.

A rival Ukrainian church was formed after the breakup of the Soviet Union. However, only the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchy, is recognized in Eastern Orthodoxy.

Kiev Patriarchy officials have recently stepped up contacts with the Church of Constantinople, also known as the Ecumenical Patriarchate, seeking “to return Ukraine to the Mother Church.” The drive has been actively backed by President Yushchenko and the country’s other top officials against a backdrop of tensions in relations with Russia.

The Christianization of Kiev dates from late 988, when Prince Vladimir the Great was baptized at Chersonesos, in the Crimea. He then baptized his family and people in Kiev and destroyed wooden statues of Slavic pagan gods.

Putin vows to back domestic production of military hardware parts

The Russian government will work out a specially targeted federal program to ensure that components for military hardware are produced domestically, the Russian prime minister said Monday.

Vladimir Putin visited the Avangard machine-building plant in Moscow, which is part of the Almaz-Antei defense company. “We will speak on it at today’s meeting of the Russian government presidium,” he said of the government support program.

The Almaz-Antei company specializes in developing and producing small, medium and long-range air defense missile systems, radars and automated control systems.

Putin also said the implementation of a program to manufacture strategic materials would ensure independence from imports for firms fulfilling orders in the military-technical sector.

That issue was also due to be discussed at the meeting of the presidium, also known as the inner cabinet.

Russia celebrates Navy Day

 

A naval parade of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Marines of the Black Sea Fleet.