Russia starts biggest war games since Soviet fall near China

[webfact]

Russia starts biggest war games since Soviet fall near China

By Andrew Osborn

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a meeting with participants of a round table discussion on Russia-China Cooperation on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia September 11, 2018. Donat Sorokin/TASS Host Photo Agency/Pool via REUTERS

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia began its biggest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union on Tuesday close to its border with China, mobilising 300,000 troops in a show of force that will include joint exercises with the Chinese army.

 

China and Russia have staged joint drills before but not on such a large scale, and the Vostok-2018 (East-2018) exercise signals closer military ties as well as sending an unspoken reminder to Beijing that Moscow is able and ready to defend its sparsely populated far east.

 

Vostok-2018 is taking place at a time of heightened tension between the West and Russia, and NATO has said it will monitor the exercise closely, as will the United States which has a strong military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

Russia's Ministry of Defence broadcast images on Tuesday of columns of tanks, armoured vehicles and warships on the move, and combat helicopters and fighter aircraft taking off.

 

In one clip, marines from Russia's Northern Fleet and a motorised Arctic brigade were shown disembarking from a large landing ship on a barren shore opposite Alaska.

 

This activity was part of the first stage of the exercise, which runs until Sept. 17, the ministry said in a statement. It involved deploying additional forces to Russia's far east and a naval build-up involving its Northern and Pacific fleets.

 

The main aim was to check the military's readiness to move troops large distances, to test how closely infantry and naval forces cooperated, and to perfect command and control procedures. Later stages will involve rehearsals of both defensive and offensive scenarios.

 

Russia also staged a major naval exercise in the eastern Mediterranean this month and its jets resumed bombing the Syrian region of Idlib, the last major enclave of rebels fighting its ally President Bashar al-Assad.

 

CLOSER CHINA-RUSSIA TIES

The location of the main training range for Vostok-2018 5,000 km (3,000 miles) east of Moscow means it is likely to be watched closely by Japan, North and South Korea as well as by China and Mongolia, both of whose armies will take part in the manoeuvres later this week.

 

Analysts say Moscow had to invite the Chinese and Mongolian militaries given the proximity of the war games to their borders and because the scale meant the neighbouring countries would probably have seen them as a threat had they been excluded.

 

The exercise - which will involve more than 1,000 military aircraft, two Russian naval fleets, up to 36,000 tanks and armoured vehicles and all Russian airborne units - began as President Vladimir Putin held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Russian port city of Vladivostok.

 

Relations between Moscow and Beijing have long been marked by mutual wariness with Russian nationalists warning of encroaching Chinese influence in the country's mineral-rich far east.

 

But Russia pivoted east towards China after the West sanctioned Moscow over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014 and trade links between the two, who share a land border over 4,200 km long, have blossomed since.

 

Russia broadcast footage of some of 24 helicopters and six jets belonging to the Chinese air force landing at Russian air bases for the exercise. Beijing has said 3,200 members of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will join in.

 

Some experts see the war games as a message to Washington, with which both Moscow and Beijing have strained ties.

 

"With its Vostok 2018 exercise Russia sends a message that it regards the U.S. as a potential enemy and China as a potential ally," wrote Dmitri Trenin, a former Russian army colonel and director of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank.

 

"China, by sending a PLA element to train with the Russians, is signalling that U.S. pressure is pushing it towards much closer military cooperation with Moscow."

 

When asked if he was concerned about a potential military alliance between Russia and China in the future, U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said he did not see the two countries aligned in the long-term.

 

"I think that nations act out of their interest. I see little in the long-term that aligns Russia and China," Mattis told reporters in Washington.

 

Putin, who is armed forces commander-in-chief, is expected to observe the exercises this week alongside Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who is overseeing them.

 

Shoigu has said they are the biggest since a Soviet military exercise, Zapad-81 (West-81) in 1981.

 

(Additional reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington. Editing by Alison Williams and Alistair Bell)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-12

[Credo]

Russia's plan all along has been to weaken the US, UK and NATO.   He has used the internet and social media to wreak havoc and destabilize unity.  It has been way more effective and much cheaper than a military buildup.

 

Now, he will attach himself to the growing Asian region, in particular China, who are expanding control through much of Asia.

 

Meanwhile the West will be falling apart quicker than the Roman Empire.

 

[mfd101]

There are already hundreds of thousands of Chinese 'traders' living north of the Russian/Chinese border. They trade with the few Russians who live there but look increasingly like permanent settlers.

 

I don't suppose Moscow feels too comfortable about that, but they are a source of much-needed foreign exchange and wealth generation ...

[smedly]

I was told I was talking nonsense when I predicted this over a year ago

[from the home of CC]

"I think that nations act out of their interest. I see little in the long-term that aligns Russia and China," Mattis told reporters in Washington.

 

They will if pushed into a corner.

[puipuitom]

7 hours ago, Credo said:

Russia's plan all along has been to weaken the US, UK and NATO.   He has used the internet and social media to wreak havoc and destabilize unity.  It has been way more effective and much cheaper than a military buildup.

 

Now, he will attach himself to the growing Asian region, in particular China, who are expanding control through much of Asia.

 

Meanwhile the West will be falling apart quicker than the Roman Empire.

 

And the Asian nations can make up themselves to lying in the row for a knee bend for the Dragon throne… Do not forget to ask permission in Beijing when you want to fly from Hanoi to Manilla, as that sea is already occupied by the Chinese navy.

Remember: WW2 in the Pacific was caused by the occupation by Japan of Korea, Manchuria, entire West China. The occupation of Indo China (Vietnam) per Oct 1940 triggered a US trade boycot towards Japan, who responded with an attack on Pearl Harbor, to weaken the US and get this boycott away… for rubber, oil, steel etc. It went different.  see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Events_leading_to_the_attack_on_Pearl_Harbor 

You think, the Yanks will be so stupid again ?

Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia are already sold to the Chinese, Thailand and de Philippines are already bowing.

Edited September 12, 2018 by puipuitom

[AsiaHand]

THis is really something for Russia as up to now they did not have enough fuel to have any war games like this.Maybe the Chinese are helping out here.

[Sir Dude]

I highly doubt either the Russians or the Chinese trust each other much and have historically been at each other for a long time. Maybe their interests have aligned temporary...but I wouldn't say anything more than that. These two countries have always, and still are, controlled buy the worst of the worse dictators. And just for you Trump haters out there, these two make Trump look like a boy scout in comparison.

[bristolboy]

1 minute ago, Sir Dude said:

I highly doubt either the Russians or the Chinese trust each other much and have historically been at each other for a long time. Maybe their interests have aligned temporary...but I wouldn't say anything more than that. These two countries have always, and still are, controlled buy the worst of the worse dictators. And just for you Trump haters out there, these two make Trump look like a boy scout in comparison.

One of them makes Trump look like a minion.

[BigT73]

The ironic thing is the west has sent its manufacturing capabilities to China not to mention manufacturing secrets which are already being duplicated, allowed them to bulk purchase land in western countries and filled his pockets purchasing his cheap crap. Nice to see how China shows their appreciation and alligence.  Yes I have lived there and seen it first hand.

[Sir Dude]

4 minutes ago, BigT73 said:

The ironic thing is the west has sent its manufacturing capabilities to China not to mention manufacturing secrets which are already being duplicated, allowed them to bulk purchase land in western countries and filled his pockets purchasing his cheap crap. Nice to see how China shows their appreciation and alligence.  Yes I have lived there and seen it first hand.

Yes...you are right, and the west will pay for it's short term greed when these monstrous countries out-power it and coldly decide everything. You can kiss goodbye to this La La Land liberal fantasy paradise when that happens, which isn't that far away...maybe 20-30 years. The west needs to toughen up and stop just thinking about soulless profit margins as not going to be pretty.

 

[AsiaHand]

30 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

One of them makes Trump look like a minion.

YEA but he has them both trying to shore up their losses about now.

[BigT73]

6 minutes ago, Sir Dude said:

maybe 20-30 years

Once the generation that had that abilty to start up and run a factory retires or passes on,  this new generation will not have an idea. In a upcoming war China will be sending in locally made armament, whilst we will be sending in locally made tins of perserves.  China in power will be brutal to non chinese.

[bristolboy]

5 minutes ago, BigT73 said:

Once the generation that had that abilty to start up and run a factory retires or passes on,  this new generation will not have an idea. In a upcoming war China will be sending in locally made armament, whilst we will be sending in locally made tins of perserves.  China in power will be brutal to non chinese.

"The United States is the world's second largest manufacturer (after China) with a record high real output in Q1 2018 of $2.00 trillion (i.e., adjusted for inflation in 2009 Dollars) well above the 2007 peak before the Great Recession of $1.95 trillion.^[2] The U.S. manufacturing industry employed 12.35 million people in December 2016 and 12.56 million in December 2017, an increase of 207,000 or 1.7%.^[3]Through still a large part of the US economy. in Q1 2018 manufacturing contributed less to GDP then the 'Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing' sector, the 'Government' sector, or 'Professional and business services' sector.^[3]""

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_in_the_United_States}

[BigT73]

Im not from USA, we watched our locally made carplants what we were proud of get shipped overseas, we just watched all our major manufacturing plants get shutdown one after the other. Chinas not dumb they want the technology they can then reproduce from Nike to Iphone car plants etc, they even purchased some of our major ports.  From a western country the amount of stuff "Made inUSA" is nearly non existant compared to "Made in China".  USA manufacturing may be mainly inhouse versus China focusing on export and capturing everyones dollar.