Over 20,000 troops, 70 combat planes as well as 30 Russian warships are taking part in the Vostok-2010 war games currently active in several Russian regions bordering China and Mongolia. The war games began June 29 and will continue until July 8.
For the first time in Russia’s modern history these military exercises are acted out together with warships of three fleets, the Black Sea, Pacific and Northern Fleets reports The Hindu.com. The exercises also involve Sukhoi Su-24M frontline bombers and Su-34 multi-role fighters, which were redeployed from bases in Western Russia 8,000 km away. The war planes completed non-stop flights with two successful in-flight refueling.
The exercises will include the firing of live ammunition, simulated airborne assaults and amphibious assault landings.
Military analyst Alexander Golts affirmed that “Russia is conducting these operations to reassure itself it can still control these sparsely populated regions,”. Chief of the General Staff Army Gen Nikolai Makarov said “This exercise… is not directed against any concrete country of military-political blox. It has purely defensive nature in ensuring the security of national interests of the state in the Far East,”
Chinese military officials attend Vostok-2010
According to the press service of the Siberian military district, a Chinese military delegation arrived in Siberia on Sunday, to attend the Vostok-2010 military exercises.
“The Chinese delegation will attend a key phase of the Vostok-2010 drills at the Tsugol training grounds,” the press service said in a statement.
Russian military war Games
Russian war games held last year, simulated attack and counter-attack on NATO member states along the Russian borders. Russia’s Vostok strategic command-and-staff exercises are held every two years.
Image credits: Michael Sandberg, US Navy
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