The Russian military has announced the start of a five-day “snap inspection” testing the combat readiness of troops ahead of massive maneuvers in Siberia and the Far East.
Russia is holding war games dubbed Vostok-2018 (“East-2018”) in the central and eastern military districts in August and September, with some 3,200 Chinese troops scheduled to join the exercises in Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region next month.
Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called the upcoming games "the largest preparatory action for the armed forces since Zapad-81," referring to war games conducted by the Soviet Union in 1981. The minister said that the upcoming games would be "unprecedented in scale, both in terms of area of operations and numbers of military command structure, troops and forces involved."
Airborne Troops have been activated as part of the Aug. 20-25 snap inspection with long-range and transport aviation in the regions, Interfax quoted Shoigu as saying Monday.
Shoigu said that the mass inspection involving 16 special drills was launched on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.
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