Russia to hold biggest war games in decades
Tue Aug 28, 2018 01:18:pm World
3.6K By Obiaks Blog
Russia plans to hold massive war games involving 300,000 personnel next month - its biggest military manoeuvres since the Cold War.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said units from China and Mongolia would take part in the exercise, at military ranges in central and eastern Russia.
He compared the "Vostok-2018" war games to Soviet manoeuvres in 1981, which involved a pretend attack on Nato.
A smaller-scale Russia-Belarus exercise was held in western regions last year.
Russia has intensified its military training amid tension with Nato. Russia's military intervention in Ukraine in 2014 triggered Western sanctions and a heightened Nato presence near Russian borders.
Mr Shoigu said 36,000 armoured vehicles would take part in Vostok-2018, from 11 to 15 September, and more than 1,000 aircraft. "Vostok" is Russian for "east".
Paratroops and Northern Fleet naval forces will also take part. Russia's armed forces are reckoned to have about one million personnel in total.
The scale of Vostok-2018 is equivalent to the forces deployed in one of the big World War Two battles.
President Vladimir Putin has made military modernisation - including new nuclear missiles - a priority.
BBC
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said units from China and Mongolia would take part in the exercise, at military ranges in central and eastern Russia.
He compared the "Vostok-2018" war games to Soviet manoeuvres in 1981, which involved a pretend attack on Nato.
A smaller-scale Russia-Belarus exercise was held in western regions last year.
Russia has intensified its military training amid tension with Nato. Russia's military intervention in Ukraine in 2014 triggered Western sanctions and a heightened Nato presence near Russian borders.
Mr Shoigu said 36,000 armoured vehicles would take part in Vostok-2018, from 11 to 15 September, and more than 1,000 aircraft. "Vostok" is Russian for "east".
Paratroops and Northern Fleet naval forces will also take part. Russia's armed forces are reckoned to have about one million personnel in total.
The scale of Vostok-2018 is equivalent to the forces deployed in one of the big World War Two battles.
President Vladimir Putin has made military modernisation - including new nuclear missiles - a priority.
BBC
Related News
Leave a comment...