Russia kicked off what it says are its largest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union on Tuesday, while hosting a bilateral meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the far eastern city of Vladivostok.
They’ll be joined by thousands of troops from China and Mongolia, which the Chinese Defense Ministry insisted wasn’t «directed against any third party» and would focus purely on «defenses, firepower strikes and counterattack.»
The exercises will be held from September 11 to 17 in Russia’s Eastern Military District, an underdeveloped and sparsely populated close to the country’s borders with China and Mongolia.
In a statement in August, Gen. Sergi Shoigu, supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces, said the games would be at an «unprecedented scale both in territory and number of troops involved.»
The Ministry has previously characterized the exercises as the largest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Deepening ties
The exercises coincide with the Russian-sponsored Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on the Russian Pacific coast.
Putin met with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the event Tuesday, during which Russian state media TASS said «several agreements» would be signed .
Trade turnover between Russia and China increased 50% in the first half of 2018, with the total expected to reach $100 billion by the end of the year, according to TASS .
Xi said China and Russia would work together to maintain stability and peace in the world.
China and Russia would promote «the political resolution of hotspot issues, resolutely upholding the UN charters and principles and standing firm against unilateralism and protectionism to construct a new type of international relations and a community of shared future for mankind,» Xi said in comments Tuesday alongside Putin.
