Russia Conducts Live Fire Exercises in Baltic

Russian naval warships and coastal troops conducted live fire exercises Monday in the country’s western Kaliningrad and Leningrad Regions, a Ministry of Defense spokesperson said.

The exercises, part of a combat readiness test ordered by President Vladimir Putin last week, come amid a growing international crisis as evidence mounts that Russian troops have been deployed across Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

Putin visited the Kirillovsky training ground near St. Petersburg Monday afternoon to personally oversee the final stage of the snap check involving an airdrop mission by paratroopers. But the mission had to be cancelled because of a blizzard.

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