According to the drills' deputy commander, Russia's Col. Alexey Sgibnev, the exercise, which for the first time involves a multinational battalion task force consisting of representatives of participating countries, will be carried out in two phases.
"The first one stipulates establishing cooperation within multinational battalion task force, formed from units of three participating countries for carrying out counter-terrorism tasks, this phase will last from June 6 to June 11. The second [active] phase — practical fulfillment of counter-terrorism tasks as multinational battalion task force- will take place from June 12 to June 14," Sgibnev said.
He explained that the active maneuvering phase includes the movement of the multinational battalion task force to a selected area with water crossings and an airlift delivery by Il-76 aircraft, taking control of this area for the fulfillment of counter-terrorism tasks, the release of facilities seized by terrorists and the rescue of trapped hostages, and the simulation of the killing of terrorist groups and evacuation of the injured.
Slavic Brotherhood is an annual event for tactic drills staged by Russian, Belarusian and Serbian Armed Forces. The first tactic drills were held in September 2015 at Russia's Rayevsky range, while the second drills took place next to Serbian Belgrade in November 2016.
Over 300 servicemen from the Pskov Airborne Assault Division of Russia’s Airborne Forces, over 400 servicemen from the 38th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Belarus’ Special Operations Forces and 50 servicemen from Serbia’s Special Brigade are participating in Slavic Brotherhood-2017. Russian Aerospace Forces' Il-76MD military transport planes, Belarusian planes and helicopters will also be used for the drills.
