• In this frame grab taken from video, provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, a Russian fighter prepares to take off during the military exercises in the Chita region, Eastern Siberia, during the Vostok 2018 exercises in Russia. Russia's military chief of staff says that the military exercises expected to be the biggest in three decades, will involve nearly 300,000 troops. | RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE POOL PHOTO / VIA AP
    In this frame grab taken from video, provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, a Russian fighter prepares to take off during the military exercises in the Chita region, Eastern Siberia, during the Vostok 2018 exercises in Russia. Russia's military chief of staff says that the military exercises expected to be the biggest in three decades, will involve nearly 300,000 troops. | RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE POOL PHOTO / VIA AP
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MOSCOW – Russia began its biggest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union on Tuesday close to its border with China, mobilizing 300,000 troops in a show of force that will include joint exercises with the Chinese army.

China and Russia have staged joint drills before but not on such a large scale, and the Vostok-2018 (East-2018) exercise signals closer military ties as well as sending an unspoken reminder to Beijing that Moscow is able and ready to defend its sparsely populated far east.

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