As part of the large-scale West-2021 maneuvers, Russian troops will have to perform a lot of combat missions. In particular, test the mobilization capabilities of civil transport and infrastructure.
Russian Western Military District conducts special exercises in the Gulf of Finland, during which the loading of troops and equipment onto civilian ships is practiced
– reported by Verkkouutiset.
According to the press release published earlier by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, logistics exercises will be focused primarily on the ports of Vyborg and Ust-Luga in the Gulf of Finland. As reported, here you have to load weapons and equipment on a civilian ship. Photos have already been posted on social networks, which filmed the process of placing equipment on the container ship "Kholmogory".
During the Cold War, Norwegian strategists considered the possibility of using merchant ships during the Soviet offensive against our country.
– quotes the Finnish edition of the opinion of one of the Norwegian observers.
This is the first time such exercises take place in Russia.
– Finnish columnist writes.
Exercises were recently held in China, during which the use of civil ships for the transport of troops was also practiced. However, the PLA used an experienced car ferry for this purpose., on which the ramp was installed. It allowed loading and unloading equipment at sea, not limited to port infrastructure.
Here are some pictures of the civilian freighters being loaded with trucks, BM-21 MRLS and T-72B3 obr 2016 tanks in the port of Viipuri, 20km from the Finnish border.
Close protection provided by combat boat.#Zapad2021 #zapad21 #Russia https://t.co/pxd1x4aSgn pic.twitter.com/nfzIZjUY8q— Petri Mäkelä (@pmakela1) August 25, 2021
