Hundreds of Russian and Chinese tanks, attack helicopters, fighter jets and thousands of soldiers will this week fight side by side in the biggest war games in Russia since 1981, in a show of strength and friendship between Asia’s two largest military powers.
Russia’s biggest military exercise since the cold war, and its first to be conducted with a country not from the former Soviet bloc, is the strongest sign yet of the deepening strategic bond between Moscow and Beijing that has been prompted by Russia’s souring western relations and may herald a redrawing of the region’s geopolitics.
Involving 300,000 troops and close to 40,000 vehicles, the seven-day ‘Vostok’ war games will coincide with talks between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in Vladivostok on Tuesday, amid a concerted effort by Russia to pivot east and embrace its powerful neighbour.