Swiss Lawmakers Mull Sending Tank Crews to Russia for Int’l Army Games

Vladimir Gutenev, a senior Russian lawmaker, stated that Swiss lawmakers were keenly interested in the terms and principles of a competition between tank crews and the ability to use their combat vehicles.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Swiss lawmakers have expressed interest in crews from their military taking part in Russian tank biathlon championships, a senior Russian lawmaker overseeing communications with the Swiss parliament said Monday.

Vladimir Gutenev recounted a Switzerland-Russia friendship group meeting where the countries’ lawmakers discussed inter-regional cooperation and environmental protection, including recycling industrial and household waste, cooperating in innovations and training innovative industry personnel.

"[Swiss] lawmakers were keenly interested in the terms and principles of a competition between tank crews and the ability to use their combat vehicles. The meeting with [our] Swiss colleagues resulted in an agreement for us to ask our military agency to invite Swiss crews to take part in the tank biathlon," Gutenev told reporters.

Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Land Forces Col. Gen. Oleg Salyukov has previously said that teams from 46 countries had been invited to take part in six International Army Games land forces competitions this year. One of the contests includes the so-called Tank Biathlon.