Experts report connection of military exercises in Northern Caucasus with conflict in Syria

A significant number of military exercises in the Southern Military District can be explained by the Russia's participation in the struggle against the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) in Syria. Antiterrorist exercises in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) indicate the existence of a real threat of terror acts after return of people involved in the Syrian conflict to their homeland. This opinion was expressed by military experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

Antiterrorist exercises in the NCFD are connected with the fact that the authorities expect aggravation of terrorist activities after combat actions in Syria against the IS banned in Russia, believes military analyst Alexander Golts, the editor-in-chief of the "Daily Magazine".

He notes that according to reports of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD), the number of military exercises is growing not only in the Southern Military District.

Pavel Felgenhauer, an observer of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", believes military exercises in the Southern Military District, which supervises the Russia's participation in the war in Syria, are conducted because of the need to prepare the army for combat actions.

The military exercises conducted on the eve of the New Year's holidays showed that the secret services have an assumption about threat of terror acts throughout the country, Pavel Felgenhauer believes. The terrorist threat is quite real not only in Northern Caucasus, but also in other regions of Russia, the expert added.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.