MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Defence Ministry said on Thursday that large-scale anti-aircraft exercises had started in southern Russia, involving over 2,000 troops and 500 items of weaponry, Interfax reported.
The Defence Ministry added that the military exercises would last until April 10 and take place in the SOUTHERN (SO.NY) and North Caucasus Federal Districts.
It said the exercises would also involve Russian military bases in Armenia, the Georgian separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Ukraine's Crimea region which Moscow annexed last year.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Christian Lowe)
