Al Jazeera:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has attended large-scale military exercises involving Chinese forces and the militaries of several other Russia-friendly countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told local news agencies.

The Vostok-2022 (East 2022) joint military exercises began on September 1 and are being held amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and at a time when both Moscow and Beijing face tensions with the United States.

Putin was at the Sergeevski military range on Tuesday to meet with Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and military chief of staff Valery Gerasimov and would observe the final phase of the military exercises, Peskov was quoted as saying.

General Gerasimov has personally overseen the drills, which involve troops from several ex-Soviet nations as well as from China, India, Laos, Mongolia, Nicaragua and Syria.

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