"According to the scenario of the exercises, a group of strangers with weapons stormed into the building of the sports and entertainment complex “Diesel-Arena "and took athletes and coaches hostage, 30 people in total. The criminals put forward a number of demands. The attackers expressed strong determination to achieve their goals, they were aggressive, and threatened to shoot the hostages and blow the building of the sports complex,” the representative of the press office of the Emergency Operations center in the Penza region told news agency PenzaNews.
He noticed that by order of the head of the Emergency Operations center, the Deputy Head of the regional Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia Colonel Sergei Maslianko, military power and resources were to conduct the simulated counter-terrorism operations.
He said, that together with preparation to combat activities maximum efforts were made to conduct negotiation with the criminals.
Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Security Service in the Penza region Colonel Sergey Maslianko pointed out that the exercises were held in order to improve the system of counter terrorism in the Penza region and maintain readiness of staff, engaged forces and facilities to effectively prevent possible terrorist acts.
However, the head of the Emergency Operations center stressed that the distinctive feature of this training exercise was the presence of media representatives at each stage of the operation.
