Speaking to the press, the senior official commented that when the drills are over the troops always return to their permanent bases, “It is a regular process. As for all other horror stories, please check with their authors,” he said.

Units of the Southern Military District and Western Military District of the Russian Armed Forces began withdrawing Tuesday to their permanent bases after participating in training, the Defense Ministry reported.

“Upon completion of combat training activities, the troops will, as usual, march in a combined manner to their permanent deployment points,” explained the military body’s spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, in a statement.

He pointed out that the units of the Southern and Western Military Districts that completed the exercises have already begun loading onto rail and road transport and will start moving to their respective garrisons on Tuesday.

The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and asked him to report on the exercises that the country is conducting in various maritime areas, in the Central Military District and also together with the Belarusian Armed Forces.

The Defense Minister explained that at the moment large-scale exercises are taking place in several of the fleets with the participation of almost all military districts. He noted that some of them have already come to an end, others will be completed in the near future.

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