Russian troops in breakaway South Ossetia were put on “highest level of combat readiness” on February 2, as part of the “combat readiness inspection” by Colonel General Alexander Dvornikov, Commander of Russia’s Southern Military District.

“Duty officers were instructed to put the motorized, tank and artillery divisions, as well as air defense and material-technical units to highest level of combat readiness,” the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

“Certain subdivisions of the [Russian] military base [in South Ossetia] organized a march to designated areas using military equipment. Firing took place at Dzartsemi (north of Tskhinvali) shooting range using T-72A battle tanks, BMP-2 infantry combat vehicles, self-propelled howitzers "Gvozdika," mortars "Sani," automatic and manual grenade launchers AGS-17 and RPG-7, as well as small firearms,” the Defense Ministry statement reads.

“In addition, the units conducted maneuvers of mobile defense in the mountains and repelled conditional enemy attack by inflicting maximum damage,” the statement added.

The military exercise involved more than 500 servicemen and about 100 items of armament and military equipment, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.