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MOSCOW, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Russia kicked off large-scale military exercises in Crimea on Thursday amid escalated tensions with Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had arrived in the peninsula to oversee the drills involving troops from the country's Southern Military District and the Airborne Forces.
More than 10,000 soldiers and over 1,200 units of weapons and military equipment, including 40 warships and 20 supporting vessels, will participate in the exercises.
The main stage of the drills, part of nationwide combat readiness checks, will be carried out at the Opuk training ground near the Crimean cities of Feodosia and Kerch later on Thursday. Enditem
