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Moscow said on Wednesday that training of newly mobilized reservists had begun across Russia, including in the Rostov region on the Ukrainian border and the Crimean peninsula seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Training also began in the Kaliningrad enclave, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, the Defense Ministry said on its Telegram channel.
In Rostov, where Russian troops assembled before the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, the ministry said all personnel had “obtained the necessary clothing, received weapons and started shooting training”. President Vladimir Putin last week ordered Russia’s first military mobilization since the world war for a second war, potentially sending hundreds of thousands of people to fight in Ukraine.
read more: Video: Part of Putin’s military call-up sparks mass protests in Russia
In Kaliningrad, where Russia has a substantial military presence including nuclear missiles, training began at the base of the Baltic Fleet.
“Citizens recruited from the reserve are rehabilitating their skills in the operation and maintenance of weapons, military and special equipment,” the ministry said in a statement.
Courses were also held to improve shooting skills to prepare military personnel for “confident action on the battlefield”.
The ministry said some 2,000 reservists had been armed in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula occupied by Moscow in 2014 and now considered part of Russia.
The mobilization announcement prompted thousands of fighting-age men to try to leave Russia to avoid being called to fight in Ukraine.
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