By Ulla Kloster
PUBLISHED: 13:23 EST, 16 July 2013 | UPDATED: 04:52 EST, 17 July 2013
Russia's macho President Vladimir Putin today watched as the country put on a spectacular show of military might, the biggest since the days of the old Soviet regime, involving 160,000 troops and 5,000 tanks across Siberia and the far eastern region.
The exercise, which began last Friday, continues throughout the week with Putin yesterday watching on the Sakhalin Island in the Pacific, then observing today by Lake Baikal as 130 combat aircraft and dozens of Russia's Pacific Fleet ships take part.
It is part of regular combat training and not directed against any particular nation, said the country's Deputy Defence MInister Anatoly Antonov in an attempt to assure foreign military attaches. But, according to CNSNews, analysts believe the show of strength was aimed at China and Japan.
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Russian army engineering troops' trucks are parked near the Baikal Lake with landing ramps
Mushroom cloud: Tanks roll past a huge cloud of smoke during live weapons testing as part of the drills
Single-seater Su-25 jet fighters fly over the lake. They are designed to provide air support for ground troops
Part of the manoeuvres was intended to simulate a response to a hypothetical attack by Japanese and U.S. forces, Konstantin Sivkov, a retired officer of the Russian military's General Staff, told the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
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Earlier this week the stunt-happy president, who in the past has been pictured enjoying manly pursuits such as topless horse riding, fishing and hunting - released shots of himself embarking on a half-hour trip to the bottom of the Gulf of Finland to see a shipwreck.
Mr Putin rode a small submersible craft which bears an uncanny likeness to the underwater hideout of James Bond villain, scientist and anarchist Karl Stromberg, in the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me.
Russian President Vladimir Putin submerges on board Sea Explorer 5 bathyscaphe near the isle of Gogland in the Gulf of Finland on Monday, visiting Oleg frigate which sank in 1869
Flexing his muscles: President Putin pictured fishing and riding. His staff have also been keen to show his softer side, although today he was out overseeing the country's military capabilities
The President descended 60 metres (200 feet) down to see the remains of the naval frigate Oleg, which sank in 1869.
He has raised eyebrows in the past with his series of adventures, always with a photographer at his side.
He was once caught on camera firing a tranquilliser dart into a Siberian tiger. He has sailed on military submarines and even co-piloted a fighter jet.
Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunships, capable of transporting eight passengers, took part in the drill
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, right, use binoculars to observe military exercises near the Baikal Lake
Tanks take part in military exercises of the Eastern Military District overseen by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sakhalin region, Russia, yesterday
Russian Pacific Fleet ships take part in military exercises in the Eastern Military District with Russian President Vladimir Putin overseeing the manoeuvres from a helicopter in Sakhalin region, Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu watch the military exercises in the Eastern Military District from an observation tower at the Uspenovsky training base, Sakhalin region, Russia
Currently, Russia and Japan have a dispute over a group of Pacific islands, which Russia calls the Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories.
The islands off the northeastern tip of Japan's Hokkaido Island were seized by Soviet troops in the closing days of World War II. They are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and are believed to have offshore oil and natural gas reserves and other mineral resources.
Antonov said that Russia had warned its neighbours about the exercise before it started, and provided particularly detailed information to China in line with an agreement that envisages a mutual exchange of data about military activities along the 4,300-kilometre (2,700-mile) border.
The two Cold war-era rivals have forged what they described as a "strategic partnership" after the 1991 Soviet collapse, developing close political, economic and military ties in a shared aspiration to counter U.S. power around the world.
Russia has supplied sophisticated weapons to China, and the neighbours have conducted joint military drills, most recently a naval exercise in the Sea of Japan earlier this month.
But despite close economic ties and military cooperation, many in Russia have felt increasingly uneasy about the growing might of its giant eastern neighbour.
Some fear that Russia's continuing population decline and a relative weakness of its conventional forces compared to the Chinese People's Liberation Army could one day tempt China to grab some territory.
Russia and China had territorial disputes for centuries. Relations between Communist China and the Soviet Union ruptured in the 1960s, and the two giants fought a brief border conflict in 1969.
Moscow and Beijing signed a new border treaty in 2004, which saw Russia yielding control over several islands in the Amur River. Some in Russia's sparsely populated far east feared that the concessions could tease China's appetite.
Putin (centre) inspects military exercises in the Pacific Ocean near the Sakhalin island yesterday
Putin inspects military exercises in the Pacific Ocean near the Sakhalin island today
Vladimir Putin (right) listens to the report of Konstantin Sidenko Commander of the Eastern Military District, at the Uspenovsky training base, site of military exercises of the Eastern Military District, Sakhalin region, Russia, today
Alexander Khramchikhin, an independent Moscow-based military analyst, said that the massive exercise held in the areas along the border with China was clearly aimed at Beijing.
"It's quite obvious that the land part of the exercise is directed at China, while the sea and island part of it is aimed at Japan," he said.
Khramchikhin, who recently posted an article painting a grim picture of Russia being quickly routed in a surprise Chinese attack, said that the war games were intended to discourage China from harbouring expansionist plots.
"China may now think that Russia has finally become more aware of what could happen," he said, describing the exercise as a sobering signal.
The manoeuvres are part of recent efforts to boost the military's mobility and combat readiness after years of post-Soviet decline, but they have far exceeded previous drills in both numbers and territorial scope.
As part of the war games held across several time zones, some army units deployed to areas thousands of kilometres away from their bases. Paratroopers were flown across Russia in long-range transport planes, and some units were ferried to Sakhalin under escort of navy ships and fighter jets.
A decade of post-Soviet economic meltdown has badly crippled Russia's military capability, grounding jets and leaving navy ships rusting in harbours for lack of funds to conduct training. Massive corruption and vicious bullying of young conscripts by older soldiers have eroded morale and encouraged widespread draft-dodging.
The weakness of the once-proud military was shown in two separatist wars in Chechnya when Russian troops suffered heavy losses at the hands of lightly armed rebels.
The Russian military won a quick victory in a war with Georgia's small military in August 2008, but the five-day conflict also revealed that the military had trouble quickly deploying its forces to the area. The shortage of precision weapons and modern communications were also apparent.
The Kremlin responded by launching a military reform intended to turn the bloated military into a more modern and agile force.
The government also has unveiled an ambitious arms modernisation programme that envisages spending over 20 trillion rubles (over ?400billion) on new weapons through 2020.
Some military analysts cautioned, however, that the rearmament effort was badly planned and might not be sufficient to reverse the military's decline. "This programme is clearly insufficient," Khramchikhin said.
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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2366037/Vladimir-Putin-oversees-largest-display-Russias-military-Cold-War-using-160-000-troops-5-000-tanks-dozens-ships-send-message-strength-world.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
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07-19-2013, 07:34 AM
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Last week my column addressed the issue of mobile phones in schools.
