Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to be joking with his defense minister on Tuesday as he inspected large-scale military exercises in Russia's Far East, thousands of miles from the war in Ukraine.
Troops from China and India are taking part in the "Vostok-2022" (meaning east) maneuvers, but it is unclear if units from these countries participated in the section that Putin is inspecting.
The Zvezda military news service showed a clip of Putin sitting next to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, wearing military jackets and exchanging jokes, as they listened to a phone conversation between Shoigu's deputy and the Chief of the General Staff.
By continuing to conduct the exercises that are held every 4 years, Putin apparently sends a message that the Russian army is able to conduct business as usual, despite the requirements of the war in Ukraine, where his army suffered heavy losses in personnel and equipment according to the Ukrainian side, and the fighting reached a state From the actual stagnation after controlling about 20% of the area of the former Soviet Republic.
The Ministry of Defense says that only 50,000 soldiers and 5,000 units of military equipment, including 140 aircraft and 60 ships, are participating in the exercises, which started on the first of September and will end tomorrow, Wednesday.
A significant drop from the 300,000 who participated in the 2018 edition. Western military analysts say they believe the two numbers are exaggerated.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin is holding a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov at the Sergeevsky Military Field, and could follow the final stage of military exercises later.
Today, Tuesday, the Ministry of Defense published a video clip of the naval part of the exercises, showing the Russian Pacific Fleet training to launch Kalibr cruise missiles, which it said had successfully hit a target more than 300 km away.
Yesterday, Russian and Chinese combat ships conducted an exercise in countering a hostile air attack using air defense artillery systems.
And Russia is the largest supplier of military equipment to India, which participated in the exercises, although the United States announced a few days ago that it had concerns about any country participating in such exercises with Russia now.
Moscow says that the maneuvers are taking place with the participation of military units and observers from Algeria, Laos, Mongolia, Nicaragua and Syria, as well as 6 former Soviet republics.
It is noteworthy that relations between Beijing and Moscow have witnessed significant improvement in recent years, and they have strengthened their cooperation within the framework of a relationship that the two countries described as "without borders", to play a role aimed at confronting the global hegemony of the United States.
Beijing refused to condemn the Russian intervention in Ukraine, and provided diplomatic cover for it by denouncing Western sanctions and the West's move to supply Kyiv with weapons, which led to an increase in the level of tension between China and the West.