 ASTRAKHAN REGION, Russia, Sept. 27 -- The closing ceremony of "Kavkaz-2020" strategic exercise was held at the Kapustin Yar Range at 10 a.m. on September 26, local time. Russian Deputy Defense Minister. Lt. Gen. Yunus-Bek Evkurov, as well as commanders of participating troops from different countries addressed the ceremony. Army General Alexander Dvornikov, commander of the Russian Southern Military District, announced the closing of the exercise. Lt. Gen. Liu Xiaowu, deputy commander of Chinese PLA Western Theater Command and commanding officer of the Chinese participating troops, delivered a speech at the closing ceremony. He said that this exercise fully demonstrated the staunch determination of participating countries to jointly maintain regional security and stability, and showed the combat capability of multinational forces to jointly respond to multiple security threats. In particular, the participating troops from different countries cooperated closely and fought side by side, successfully completed the drill tasks and forged a deep fighting friendship, Lt. Gen. Liu noted. He believed that the normalization of such strategic-level drills will help further enhance political and strategic mutual trust, deepen military exchanges and cooperation, and enhance the interoperability among multinational forces. At the closing ceremony, the outstanding servicemen with flying colors in the exercise were awarded medals. Ten Chinese soldiers won the medals. The closing ceremony ended with a military parade. The Chinese participating troops will return to China in two echelons from September 27. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu came to the Kapustin Yar Range on September 25 to observe the exercise involving actual troops featuring joint combat groups formed by multinational forces carrying out joint fire-power attacks on mock terrorists. The "Kavkaz-2020" strategic exercise is the largest-scale international joint military exercise hosted by the Russian military this year. |
