Russia to hold war games with allies

RUSSIA said yesterday it would stage massive military drills in the Caucasus in late September with troops from countries including China, Iran and Pakistan invited to participate.

More than 12,000 troops will take part in the “Caucasus-2020” war games, which will take place in southern Russia from Sept 21 to 26, and include land and naval exercises, Alexander Fomin, the deputy defence minister said.

“The Caucasus-2020 drills are not aimed against other countries,” the defence ministry said in a statement.

China, Iran, Pakistan and Myanmar have been invited to take part in the drills, along with ex-soviet Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus, the ministry said.

Up to 250 tanks and around 450 infantry combat vehicles and armoured personnel carriers will take part in the drills that will involve 80,000 people including support staff, the statement said. Russia regularly holds large-scale drills – two months ago President Vladimir Putin ordered 150,000 personnel to take part in war games in the country’s south-west, with Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, saying at the time that they aimed to test the armed forces’ military capability in the area “where grave terrorist threats persist”. The summer drills were the first public show of force from Russia since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, and at the time the ministry said people should get ready for more in September.

The drills often involve allied countries, with one of the biggest in recent years being with China in 2018.