Russia Plans Largest War Games since end of Soviet Union
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Russia plans largest war games since end of Soviet Union
Russia will stage the its largest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union next month, the country's Defense Ministry said Monday.
Thousands of troops from China and Mongolia are expected to join in the exercises in Siberia, dubbed Vostok 2018, according to statements from the Russian and Chinese defense ministries.
The games will have an "unprecedented scale both in territory and number of troops involved," supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces, General Sergi Shoigu, said in a statement.
Shoigu said it would be the "largest event since the Zapad-81 maneuvers," which involved as many as 150,000 troops, according to CIA documents.
Those exercises saw the Soviet Union test new weapons, including intermediate range ballistic missiles. Videos from the Zapad-81 games show huge formations of tanks and artillery as well as jet aircraft making mock attacks.
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The exercise is not directed against any third party" and will focus on "maneuver defense, firepower strikes and counterattack," it added.
The September dates announced by China overlap with the Russian-sponsored Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. Chinese President Xi Jinping is among the leaders expected to attend this year's version of the annual event, hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Russia has been highlighting its military this year, with Putin in March boasting of new weaponry he claimed would render NATO defenses "completely useless." Some of those arms were shown off in a video released shortly after his July summit with US President Donald Trump.
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