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By Li Jing Russia's Vostok-2010 military exercises in Siberia and the country's far east, which began Tuesday and run through July 8, are of a solely defensive nature, a spokesman for the Far Eastern military district said Monday. General Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said that Vostok-2010 is the biggest-scale military drill this year and will be a continuation of the "Osen-2009" drills conducted in western Russia and Belarus last fall, the Xinhua News Agency quoted Russian media reports as saying. Makarov stressed that the drills were not aimed against any country or military-political bloc. "It has a purely defensive nature in ensuring the security and national interests of Russia in the far east," Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted him as saying Tuesday. The military exercises come amid mounting tension between the two Koreas over the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. Zhang Zhaozhong, a professor at the Chinese National Defense University, said that "It is just a coincidence because the drills were planned one year in advance and will not be altered at random." However, Xing Guangcheng, deputy director at the Center of Borderland History and Geography Research of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that Russia may use these exercises as an opportunity to show its military deterrence in the region. According to Xinhua, the "Vostok-2010" drills will be centered at the Tsugol training ground. Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Yezhel has been invited to observe the drills. At least 20,000 troops, up to 70 warplanes and 30 warships will participate in the drills on 15 training grounds, RIA Novosti said. As part of the drills, the armed forces will practice the deployment of additional troops in Siberia and the far east to reinforce the existing military contingent in the region in case of a military conflict. Also Tuesday, China denied media reports that an artillery drill in the East China Sea was in response to a planned military exercise between South Korea and the US. "This is a regular military exercise," Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Qin Gang said. "This is not related to the situation on the Korean Peninsula." Agencies contributed to this story |
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