INTERNATIONAL: Russian snipers take part in the military exercises in the Rostov region near Ukraine border on Thursday, 13 january.

Snipers have trained at camouflaging, target classification, fire correction, the use of observation and targeting devices, the defence ministry has said in a statement accompanying the drills.

Russia has perturbed the West by building up troops near Ukraine and demanded that Washington pledge not to let Ukraine join NATO or expand the military alliance eastward, a stipulation that the United States refuses to accept.

Washington has urged Moscow to reverse its build-up of an estimated 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine, which has prompted Ukrainian and Western concerns about a possible new invasion eight years after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine.

Moscow has said it has no intention of attacking and has every right to move around its soldiers on its territory and to carry out military drills as it sees fit.