by Mark Trevelyan
LONDON (Reuters) – Russian military exercises in the Far East will take place this week on a much smaller scale than they were last held in 2018, reflecting pressure on Moscow forces in Eastern Europe struggling to advance on battlefields in Ukraine.
While announcing the “Vostok 2022” war games last month, in which China will participate, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that what it calls a “special military operation” by Russia does not in any way affect its ability to conduct such exercises. Ukraine.
But the 50,000 armies that Moscow said Monday would join are a tiny fraction of the official figure of 300,000 that would have included four years ago – which some Western military analysts suspect is an exaggeration.
The Ministry of Defense stated that 140 military aircraft and more than 5,000 military equipment will be deployed, well below the 1,000 aircraft and 36,000 tanks and armored vehicles deployed for the 2018 maneuvers.
Konrad Muzyka, director of Poland-based military consultancy Rochan, said: “This will be the smallest strategic-level exercise in years, as the full potential of ground forces is present in operations in Ukraine. Therefore, the exercise will have to be very small.” said. . . .
Nevertheless, the exercises will be closely watched by regional powers such as Japan and South Korea, as an important show of strength from Russia and China, who met at Vostok 2018 and will again participate in the exercises on land and at sea.
Russia said the Pacific Fleet and the Chinese navy would participate in “joint practical actions to defend maritime communications and maritime economic activity areas” in the Sea of Japan.
source: Noticias
