01.08.2015.

The Russian International Military Games opened

The Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Army General Sergei Shoigu opened today at the Alabino training ground near Moscow the International Military Games 2015. The SAF team, which is competing in the tank biathlon, represented our country at today's ceremony among the teams from a total of 17 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. Today's ceremony was attended by Air Force and Air Defence Commander Major General Ranko Zivak and Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the Russian Federation Slavenko Terzic.

Minister Shoigu said that this manifestation helped strengthen the trust between the armed forces of various countries. He conveyed hope that the International Military Games would reach the level of the military Olympics in the future.

At the opening ceremony, several hundred artists, athletes and soldiers gave performances, and the greatest attention was drawn by the performance of the aerobatic team Russian Knights in Sukhoi 27 aircraft.

The International Military Games are being held from 1 to 15 August in ten republics of the Russian Federation, with participants from 57 teams from 17 states and 20 observer groups from six countries. The teams will compete in 14 different disciplines - competitions that include almost all services of conventional armed forces. The Tank Biathlon, which has just begun at Alabino, and the competition of "Aviadarts" pilots at the Dubrovicki training ground in the Ryazan region will attract the most attention. At the same time, mechanized units, artillery units, members of the Air Defence and CBRN units, Naval Infantry, Navy, and military cooks will measure their military skills across Russia. Among the participating countries, only Russia and China have representatives in all competitions.

Like last year, the Tank Biathlon drew a record number of participants, 13 in total. This year, the SAF crews are competing in yellow-coloured tanks. The first crew of our tank team drove today, and took a convincing first place in competition with Tajikistan, Venezuela and Nicaragua. In the second run, as expected, the Russian team was the best. Results of individual races that will decide which eight teams go to the semi-finals will be announced on Wednesday afternoon.