Russia’s largest show of strength

RUSSIA has launched what it called its largest ever military drills, with hundreds of thousands of troops taking part along with Chinese soldiers in a show of force NATO condemned as a rehearsal for “large-scale conflict”.

President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the games after hosting an economic forum in Russia’s far eastern city Vladivostok, where his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is a prominent guest.

The week-long war games, dubbed “Vostok-2018 (East-2018)”, “have kicked off” in far eastern Russia, the defence ministry said.

Taking part in the drills are around 300,000 soldiers, 36,000 military vehicles, 80 ships, and 1000 aircraft, helicopters and drones.

Some 3500 Chinese troops will take part in the exercise.

The defence ministry released video footage of military vehicles, planes, helicopters and ships getting into position for the initial stage of the drills.

Mr Putin praised Russia’s increasingly close ties with China as he met Mr Xi at the economic forum in Vladivostok on Tuesday.

“We have trustworthy ties in political, security and defence spheres,” the Russian leader said.

Mr Xi said the two countries’ “friendship is getting stronger all the time”.

The military exercises come at a time of escalating tensions between Moscow and the West over accusations of Russian interference in Western affairs and conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The Russian army has compared the show of force to the USSR’s 1981 war games – the largest military exercises of the Soviet era. But Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said these exercises were even larger.

“Imagine 36,000 military vehicles moving at the same time: tanks, armoured personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles ... in conditions as close to a combat situation as possible,” Mr Shoigu said.

NATO said Vostok-2018 “demonstrates Russia’s focus on exercising large-scale conflict”.

“It fits into a pattern we have seen over some time – a more assertive Russia, significantly increasing its defence budget and its military presence,” spokesman Dylan White said in late August.

Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Western concerns.

“These are very important drills but they are part of routine annual work to develop the armed forces,” he said.