Russia Stretches Lead in ‘Safe Environment’ Contest at Int Army Games 2015

The Russian team has strengthened its lead in the penultimate stage of the “Safe Environment” contest at International Army Games 2015.

Troops from Russia, China and Belarus took part in the third and crucial stage of the “Safe Environment” competition at Army Games, which was held at the Pesochnoye range in Russia’s Yaroslavl Region.

The teams demonstrated extreme driving of the armed personnel carriers on the three-kilometer route, overcoming complex barriers, including plank bridges, fording points and passing mine obstacles. Crews also had to traverse some parts of the route on foot, such as passing cableways over a pond and completing a fire assault course.

The “Safe Environment” competition consists of four stages; each of those provides checking of troops’ driving skills, firing proficiency and Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological (NBC) protection preparedness.

The Russian team took the lead in front of the other crews by the end of three stages of competition.

On the final stage of the contest, the participating troops will have to pass qualification for NBC Protection and NBC reconnaissance.

Arkady Bakhin, the deputy Minister of Defense of Russian Federation, who attended the opening ceremony for the third stage “Safe Environment” contest, claimed that the goal of the competition is to strengthen cooperation on NBC protection between nations participating in the International Army Games.

The third stage of the competition ended with a concert, organized by the Russian Defense Ministry and Administration of Russia’ Kostroma Region.

The International Army Games-2015 are being held at 11 different sites across Russia on August 1-15. Over two thousands of foreign troops from 17 countries are taking part in the competitions.