Russia to hold biggest military drills since Cold War

MNA International Desk: Russia will next month flex its military muscles and hold the biggest war games since the Cold War era, with almost 300,000 troops and 1,000 aircraft, reported news agency.

The Vostok-2018, or East 18, exercises simulating large-scale warfare, will be carried out from 11 to 15 September in the country’s east, with troops from China and Mongolia also taking part.

They come as Russia is hit by the latest round of US sanctions and faces even harsher ones over its alleged role in a nerve agent attack in Britain, with its relations with the West at their lowest ebb since the Cold War.

NATO said it saw the games as signs of “a more assertive Russia”.

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu said the exercises would be similar in size to those held in September 1981 by the Soviet authorities, called Zapad-81, or West 81.

These were unprecedented at the time in terms of the number of troops and military hardware, with around 100,000 troops involved, Russian television reported.