VLADIVOSTOK, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has started a tactical exercise in the country's Far East as part of the Stability-2008 strategic maneuvers, a military spokesman said on Monday.

The Bereg (Coast) exercise will run from September 29 though October 5, and involves units of the Far East Military District, based in the Primorye Territory, as well as the Far Eastern air and air defense forces and the Pacific Fleet.

"The exercise aims to practice the deployment of the combined-arms task force in a simulated operation to defend the infrastructure of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands from possible terrorist attacks, to guarantee safe navigation and to deal with consequences of natural and industrial disasters," a spokesman for the Far East Military District said.

The Stability-2008 drills will last until October 21 in various regions of Russia and Belarus with the goal of practicing strategic deployment of the Armed Forces, including the nuclear triad, to counter potential threats near the Russian border.

The maneuvers include a number of theater-level, tactical and command-and-post exercises under a common strategic concept.