Russia Plans Biggest War Games Since the Fall of the Soviet Union

Russia is planning its biggest war games since the end of the Soviet Union, the country’s defense ministry has claimed. Supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces, Gen. Sergi Shoigu, said the event will be comparable to the Zapad-81 maneuvers—a show of force in 1981 that involved around 150,000 Soviet troops. The upcoming war games, dubbed Vostok 2018, will be held in Siberia. Troops from China and Mongolia are expected to join in the exercises. The games will have an “unprecedented scale both in territory and number of troops involved,” Gen. Shoigu said. China confirmed it will send 3,200 troops, 900 weapons, and 30 planes and helicopters to the event. “The exercise is not directed against any third party,” said China’s defense ministry in a statement, saying it will focus on “defense, firepower strikes, and counterattack.”