Russian Deputy Defense Minister Oleksandr Fomin said on Monday that the “Vostok-2022” military exercises, in which more than 50,000 soldiers from more than 10 countries take part from September 1 to 7, are not directed against any country and any military alliances, such as as NATO, reports EFE, and the contingents will return to their permanent deployment locations at the end of next month.
“The exercises are not directed against any specific country or military alliance and have purely defensive purposes,” Russian Deputy Defense Minister Oleksandr Fomin said at a briefing for foreign military attachés, Russian agency Interfax quotes.
He added that the troops will return to the places of permanent deployment at the end of September.
“The return of the military administration bodies and troops to their places of permanent deployment after participating in the exercises is planned for the end of September,” he said.
The maneuvers, which will be coordinated by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Valery Gerasimov, and which are organized every four years, will take place in seven training camps of the Eastern Military District of Russia, as well as in maritime and coastal areas, Agerpres notes.
Military personnel from more than 10 countries are participating in “Vostok-2022”.
Contingents and observers from more than 10 countries, including China, India, Syria, Algeria, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Laos and Azerbaijan, are participating in the exercises. Military personnel of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which together with Russia are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, will also be present.
These exercises are smaller in scale than in 2018, when almost 300,000 servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces took part, as well as several thousand soldiers from other countries.
During the maneuvers, the naval forces of Russia and China will conduct exercises in the Sea of Japan, Fomin said.
“Our Pacific Fleet will train together with the naval forces of the People’s Liberation Army of China as part of the cohesion exercises in the northern and central parts of the Sea of Japan, in the eastern sea zone.
Far,” the Russian official explained.
Russia conducted joint exercises with Belarus before invading Ukraine
In early February, Russia and Belarus held joint military exercises for 10 days against the backdrop of growing fears about a possible invasion of Ukraine. NATO officials said the exercise was the largest deployment of Russian troops in the former Soviet republic since the Cold War, The Guardian and BBC reported.
The White House said the exercise was an escalation of tensions, as the Kremlin has repeatedly denied it plans to invade Ukraine, despite the deployment of more than 100,000 troops on its western border.
At that time, Western countries, including the United States, warned that an attack by Russia was possible at any moment.
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Source: Hot News RU
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