10 Sept 24. Russia launches massive naval drills with China. The Russian military on Tuesday launched massive naval and air drills spanning across both hemispheres and including China in joint maneuvers.
The “Ocean-24” exercise spans the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, the Mediterranean, Caspian and Baltic Seas and involves over 400 warships, submarines and support vessels, more than 120 planes and helicopters and over 90,000 troops, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. The maneuvers will continue through Sept. 16, the ministry said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments to military officials that the war games are the largest of their kind in three decades, and that China’s warships and planes were taking part. China confirmed that on Monday, saying the two countries’ navies would cruise together in Pacific, but gave no details.
A total of 15 countries have been invited to observe the drills, Putin said, without naming them.
“We pay special attention to strengthening military cooperation with friendly states. Today, in the context of growing geopolitical tensions in the world, this is especially important,” Putin said.
The Russian leader accused the United States of “trying to maintain its global military and political dominance at any cost,” seeking “to inflict a strategic defeat” on Russia in its war with Ukraine and to “break the established security architecture and balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.”
“Under the pretext of countering the allegedly existing Russian threat and containing the People’s Republic of China, the United States and its satellites are increasing their military presence near Russia’s western borders, in the Arctic and in the Asia-Pacific region,” Putin said, stressing that “Russia must be prepared for any development of the situation.”
Russia and China, along with other U.S. critics such as Iran, have aligned their foreign policies to challenge and potentially overturn the Western-led liberal democratic order.
With joint exercises, Russia has sought Chinese help in achieving its long-cherished aim of becoming a Pacific power, while Moscow has backed China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere.
Russia’s Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said the drills are aimed to train “repelling large-scale aggression of a potential enemy from ocean directions, combating unmanned boats, unmanned aerial vehicles, defending naval bases, conducting amphibious operations and escorting transports.” (Source: Defense News)
10 Sept 24. Chinese troops to join Brazil’s military drills with US forces. Chinese troops will take part for the first time in Brazil’s annual military exercises this week that also include U.S. forces, the Brazilian Navy said on Tuesday.
Pentagon spokesperson Major Pete Nguyen said, however, U.S. and Chinese forces would not be training together at the Brazil’s “Operation Formosa” exercises.
“While the PRC are also present at the exercise, U.S. troops are not training alongside or with the PRC,” Nguyen said. The PRC, or People’s Republic of China, is the country’s official name.
China sent observers last year to the Operation Formosa exercises, but will have troops on the ground this year, the Brazilian Navy, which coordinates the drills, said in a statement. U.S. troops participated as well in 2023.
“In Operation Formosa 2024 we have for the first time the participation of portions of troops made up of both friendly nations,” the Navy said of the two superpowers present this year. It did not detail the size of their contingents.
The Brazilian military will deploy 3,000 troops in the three-day exercises starting on Wednesday, and they will train using aircraft, tanks, armored and amphibious vehicles, artillery and missile and rocket launchers, it said.
The exercises, which use live ammunition, take place outside the town on Formosa, located 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Brazil’s capital Brasilia.
Invited military personnel participate in workshops to exchange experiences, the Navy said, and observers from eight countries will attend the exercises, including Argentina, France, Italy, Pakistan and South Africa.
The Pentagon’s Nguyen said U.S. Marines were only at Formosa to train with their Brazilian partners.
“By working side-by-side with our Brazilian counterparts, we are enhancing our collective ability to respond to regional security challenges,” he said.
(Source: Reuters)