Murmansk militia officers and journalists took part in practice "Bastion"

From August 22 till August 28, in the Kaliningrad region, journalists took a practical training course "Bastion" at the independent naval infantry brigade no. 336 of the Baltic fleet.

This course has been arranged every year in different regions of Russia since 2006 under the aegis of the Union of journalists of Russia, the Association of military mass media, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Federal Security Service, the Ministry of Interior, the Emercom and the national counter-terrorism committee. They are intended for correspondents of various mass media working in extreme circumstances.

The target audience of the "Bastion" comprises cameramen, TV and radio correspondents and representatives of the mass media who by force of duty should perform business trips to zones of military actions, counter-terrorism operations or acts of nature.

The journalist's job under such circumstances demands not only proficiency and courage, but also special knowledge and skills which will save correspondents their lives and ensure they do not hamper people with epaulets who perform their duties.

This year, among the 60 correspondents and employees of press services from Moscow and northwest regions of Russia, some journalists from Murmansk also took the training course "Bastion".

The attendees were accommodated in barracks of amphibious soldiers and acted subject to a rigid daily army routine. At six o'clock in the morning they would get up, then do physical exercise outside, then have breakfast followed by lectures read by skilled employees of power authorities and well-known war correspondents such as the head of the NYV's North Caucasian bureau Ruslan Gusarov or the ORT journalist Oleg Groznetskiy. After a lunch they would make practical exercises on the range, with some more lectures after the dinner.

The participants of the training course admit that those who had served in the army had obviously fewer problems meeting the challenges. Those who took the "young fighter's training course" for the first time got so tired no-one would envy them. The tiresome physical exercises, accelerated marches across the off-road terrain on the armor of an armored troop-carrier, the evacuation of wounded companions from a battlefield crouching and covered in dirt, in a heavy helmet and a bullet-proof jacket... everything was serious. The fighters and officers of the unit did their best to make the training conditions resemble a real combat situation as much as possible so that is the today's attendees once find themselves to be part of a real combat mission they would not be caught unawares.

After the challenging six-day training course the attendees passed real qualification tests and then received certificates of completion of the courses. The vice-admiral of the Baltic fleet Victor Chirkov personally congratulated them.

Press service of the Internal Affairs Directorate in Murmansk region

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