Arafat Hasan: Russia has launched its biggest military exercise since the Cold War, involving about 300,000 service personnel, according to a report by the BBC.
China will also be taking part in the exercise, titled ‘Vostok-2018’, sending 3,200 troops with many Chinese armored vehicles and aircraft. Mongolia is also sending some units.
The last Russian exercise of similar scale was in 1981, during the Cold War. However, Vostok 2018 will include more troops.
The week-long exercise comes at a time of heightened NATO-Russia tensions. Relations between Russia and NATO have worsened since the former annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
As the exercises began, Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at a forum in the eastern city of Vladivostok and told him “we have a trusting relationship in the sphere of politics, security and defense”.
-Source: BBC