Kazakhstan secures 4th spot in 2015 Tank Biathlon in Russia (PHOTOS)

Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation General Sergei Shoigu attended the closing ceremony of International Army Games 2015 and awarded the winners of some of the contests with medals.

"We are grateful to our colleagues from different countries, who found the opportunity to participate in the competition and show their mastership," Shoigu declared. "Participating troops have been demonstrating day and night for two weeks all their military skills on the training grounds across our country, in the sea and in the air."

Defense Minister Shoigu expressed gratitude to all the participants for showing exciting performances and competing fairly and to volunteers, who provided the successful staging of the games. He noted that this year's contest would be the inaugural event and the games would be held annually. Within the ceremony, the prizewinners of one of contests of Army Games 2015, Tank Biathlon, were awarded with golden, silver and bronze medals, Ria Novosti reported. The Russian crew of tankers has won the gold in the individual race. China and Serbia left the ceremony with medals for the second and the third places respectively. Kazakhstan is placed fourth. Moreover, members of every country's participating team got nods from organizers, winning prizes in various additional nominations. For instance, the Tadjik troop won the prize for "high managerial competence in leading the crew" in Tank Biathlon contest. The Tank Biathlon contest had the biggest competition with crews participating from 13 different countries.

The International Army Games 2015 were held August 1st to 15th on 11 training ranges across three Russia's military commands - the Western, the Southern and the Central. Fifty-seven teams from 17 countries from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, which competed at the Games, sputniknews.com reports.