BREAKING: Putin orders biggest war games in nearly four decades in September.

Russia-tanks

“Russia will next month hold its biggest war games in nearly four decades,” Reuters is reporting.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted by Russian news agencies on Tuesday as describing the scope of the war games, which will take place from September 11 through 15.

“The exercise — called Vostok-2018 (East-2018) — will take place in central and eastern Russian military districts and involve almost 300,000 troops, over 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russia’s naval fleets, and all its airborne units, agencies quoted Shoigu as saying. It will be the biggest military exercise since 1981….”

BBC News is reporting that “Russia has intensified its military training amid tension with Nato. Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine in 2014 triggered Western sanctions and a heightened Nato presence near Russian borders.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty notes, “The September 2017 war games in Belarus and parts of western Russia, dubbed Zapad 2017, triggered concerns in neighboring NATO nations already wary of Moscow’s intentions after its illegal annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and military interference in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014.”

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