(Moscow) Servicemen from several foreign countries have started arriving in Russia for exercises with the participation of China, amid tensions between Western countries, Moscow and Beijing, the Russian military said on Monday.
Posted at 12:25 p.m.
These maneuvers, dubbed Vostok-2022, will take place from 1er September 7 in the Russian Far East, in the presence of soldiers from several border countries or allies of Russia, such as Belarus, Syria, India, but especially China.
These exercises take place in a context of intense tensions between Russia and Western countries on the one hand, because of the conflict in Ukraine, and on the other hand between China and the United States, because of tensions around Taiwan.
Washington regularly worries about the rapprochement between China and Russia, which have close defense ties, saying it endangers global security.
“Foreign military contingents participating in the Vostok-2022 exercises arrived at the Sergeyevsky training ground in Primorsky Krai (in Russia’s Far East) and began to prepare and receive their equipment and weapons,” said said the Russian Defense Ministry.
In total, “more than 50,000 soldiers, more than 5,000 pieces of military armament and equipment, including 140 aircraft and 60 warships and support ships” will be mobilized, he added in a press release.
However, the Russian ministry did not specify the number of participants per country.
The exercises, under the command of the Russian general staff, will consist of “training for defensive and offensive actions” on land, in the air but also in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, the ministry said.
In the Sea of Japan, Russian and Chinese ships will train in particular to “defend maritime communications” and “support land forces” in coastal areas, according to the same source.
In mid-August, China had confirmed the sending of troops to Russia to participate in these military exercises, affirming however that its presence was “unrelated to the current situation at the regional and international level”.