Belarusian servicemen to arrive in Russia for joint military drills

The first train with Belarusian servicemen will on Tuesday arrive in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod Region on the Volga for joint military drills, the Russian Western Military District's press service reported. The train will deliver over 200 Belarusian servicemen and 50 items of hardware to the Gorokhovetsky proving ground. "Overall, some 30 trains are expected to deliver troops and vehicles to proving grounds in the Nizhny Novgorod and Astrakhan regions as part of troop redeployment for the Union Shield 2011 joint exercises," the press service said in a statement. The drills will be held on September 16-22 and will involve some 7,000 servicemen from Russia and about 5,000 from Belarus. Joint defense tasks will be practiced at the Gorokhovetsky ground, and air defense tasks will be practiced at the Ashuluk proving ground in the Astrakhan Region in south Russia.