Exercício Ladoga 2009

Russian Army commander Gen. Vladimir Boldyrev lauded the final phase of the Ladoga 2009 strategic exercises on Tuesday, Itar-Tass reports

All photos by Vadim Savitsky

"Ladoga 2009, which has been on in northwestern Russia since August 10 ended today. The servicemen displayed a rather high level of skills and interaction,” he told Itar-Tass before the departure to Moscow.

The general said he acclaimed not only Army servicemen, but also the Airborne Forces, the Air Force, the Navy, the Interior Ministry Forces and others.

“We will sum up results of Ladoga 2009 in the first ten days of October,” the general said.

There is still another thing to do – servicemen must return to base, he said. “The 28th separate motorized infantry brigade, which came 2,000 kilometers from Yekaterinburg, took the train on Tuesday,” he said.

Ladoga 2009 imitated the deterrence of an invasion. It involved over 10,000 servicemen, about 4,000 pieces of hardware, about 50 planes and helicopters and over 20 warships and submarines. The exercises took place on the frontline of 1,500 kilometers and the depth of over 300 kilometers.