Let the Russian War Games Begin

The Russian army gathers for a military parade in 2018. (Wikimedia Commons)

The largest of Russia’s war games, the Caucasus-2020, began on September 21 and lasted for a week. China, Myanmar, Belarus, and several other countries participated in these military exercises. Vasily Kashin, a Moscow-based military analyst, said that "these exercises are the main annual test of the Russian Armed Forces' readiness to engage in a large-scale conflict."

The Russian military exercises involved around 80,000 people, including at least 12,000 troops, 250 tanks, 450 infantry combat vehicles, and armored personnel carriers, artillery systems, and rocket launchers. The two-part drills focused first on the planning phase and second on firing drills. Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin insisted on the drills’ purely defensive nature.

The Slavic Brotherhood drills with Russian and Belarusian forces began in mid-September and ran parallel to the Caucasus-2020 games. Serbia, a candidate for the EU, dropped out of the Slavic Brotherhood games earlier in September after pressure from the Union. Serbia maintains close ties with Moscow, but Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said, "We are asked, at the cost of leaving our European future… to abandon the planned military exercises with Belarus.”

Reviving the Russian army is one of President Vladamir Putin’s top priorities, and these war games have not been the country’s only recent military exercises. Russia also held war games in August, near Alaska. According to Russian Navy Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, the war games are part of Russia’s effort to protect its resources and increase its presence in the Arctic region. About 40 aircraft and more than 50 warships were part of the exercise in the Bering Sea; although some crafts approached the Alaskan border, they stayed in international waters. Russia also held a large military exercise in 2018, combining Russian and Chinese forces in a drill condemned by NATO.

Ukraine is fighting Moscow-backed separatists and views these war games as a serious threat.  Tensions between Russia and the West have also been growing with Alexander Lukashenko, the contested President of Belarus, claiming Western countries view Belarus as a means to attack Russia: “Putin and me are of the same opinion: we are being hunted here so that they can go for Russia afterwards.” Meanwhile, Russia sees the games as an opportunity to show off its military strength.