MOSCOW, July 18 (Xinhuanet) -- A large-scale anti-terrorist exercise was launched in the Russian Far East on Monday under the command of General Chief of Staff Yuri Baluyevsky, the Itar-Tass news agency reported from Khabarovsk.

    The exercise, code-named "Vostok 2005", was aimed at "combating international terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," said Col. Sergei Vasilyev, spokesman for the Far Eastern military district.

    It will help "improve professional skill...to prevent the attempts of creating a threat to Russia's territorial integrity and security of its citizens in the Far Eastern region," Vasilyev added.

    "A wide spectrum of possible measures" are included in the training against "separatist and radical religious-nationalistic movements or international radical groups," according to the official.

    The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier that over 5,000 men would join in the Vostok 2005 military exercise, scheduled for July 18-23 in two stages.

    The maneuvre, expected to improve combat readiness such as logistic and maintenance support to missile troops, involves units of ground troops, air force, railway troops and interior troops, the ministry said. Enditem