Russia will hold its biggest war games in nearly four decades next month, the country’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has told Russian news agencies.

The massive military exercise, which will also involve the Chinese and Mongolian armies, will take place in central and eastern Russian military districts. Vostok-2018 (East-2018) will involve almost 300,000 troops, more than 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russia’s naval fleets, and all its airborne units, agencies quoted Shoigu as saying.

The manoeuvres will take place at a time of heightened tension between the west and Russia, which is concerned about what it says is an unjustified build-up of the Nato military alliance on its western flank. Nato says it has strengthened its forces in eastern Europe to deter potential Russian military action after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014 and backed a pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine.(theguardian)…[+]