The Russian Defense Ministry has announced that next month, they will be holding the Vostok 2018 war games, which are to be on an “unprecedented scale.” It is expected to be the largest exercise held in Russia since the Soviet Union’s collapse.
In 1981, the Soviet Union organized Exercise Zapad-81, which was the largest ever held by the Soviets. The exercise centered on central Europe, and Poland in particular. That exercise involved all elements of the Soviet military.
The Vostok exercise will be held in Siberia, and will include multiple nations, including China and Mongolia. The exercise is expected to involve as many as 150,000 soldiers world-wide. The overwhelming majority will of course be Russian troops.
The inclusion of China is seen as a major confidence-building measure, as previous Vostok exercises were seen as preparation for a potential land war with China. Clearly, that would not be the case if the Chinese are invited to participate.
Why is still this fantasy maintained of Russia viewing China as enemy? There have been many other exercises where China participated sith Rusdian military, and vice versa. Major Chinese naval exercise included Russia. In fact it has been more then ten years that Russian and Chinese militaries started to practice communications that involve an icon based clusters of information in order to minimize verbal content, but increase accuracy and precision at operational level. I guess all of that got lost in memory black hole of western analysis and journalism. Information that does not fit the established narrative is erased. Fantasies have their benefits, but can also thrn into delusion if not checked.
It’s pretty much yet another Cold War hold-over — a little bit of wishful thinking and a little bit of propaganda.
From 1961-91, the USSR and the PRC were rivals both regionally and with respect to influence with the international communist movement. They even briefly went to open armed conflict in 1969 over border claims. But since 1991, they’ve been friendly (and seemingly getting ever-friendlier).