Russia ‘to Hold Biggest Military Drill Since 1981 with China & Mongolia Participation

• PressTV Published on Aug 28, 2018
  Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says his country will next month hold its biggest military exercise in almost four decades. The exercise, dubbed Vostok-2018 (East-2018), will be held in central and eastern Russian military districts, Russia’s news agencies quoted Shoigu as saying on Tuesday.
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• Russia war games: Biggest since Cold War ‘justified’
  by https://www.bbc.com/
  Russia plans to hold massive war games involving 300,000 personnel next month – its biggest military manoeuvres since a Cold War drill in 1981. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Vostok-2018 drills were justified given “aggressive and unfriendly” attitudes towards his country.
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  Units from China and Mongolia will also take part in the exercises at military ranges in central and eastern Russia. The manoeuvres come at a time of rising tension between Nato and Russia.
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  What will take place in the drills?
  Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said 36,000 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and armoured infantry vehicles would take part in Vostok-2018, from 11 to 15 September, along with more than 1,000 aircraft. Vostok is Russian for east.
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  All of Russia’s airborne units and two of its naval fleets will also take part in the drills across Siberia and the Russian Far East. Mr Shoigu compared the Vostok-2018 exercises to Soviet manoeuvres in 1981, which involved a pretend attack on Nato. He said: “In some ways they will repeat aspects of Zapad-81, but in other ways the scale will be bigger.” Mr Peskov said the involvement of Chinese units showed Russia and Beijing were co-operating in all areas.
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  The scale of Vostok-2018 is equivalent to the forces deployed in one of the big World War Two battles. A smaller-scale Russia-Belarus exercise was held in western regions last year. President Vladimir Putin has made military modernisation – including new nuclear missiles – a priority. Russia’s armed forces are reckoned to have about one million personnel in total.
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