Amid tensions with Europe, Russia’s Pacific Fleet put on high alert for snap drills

Moscow: Russia’s massive Pacific Fleet was put on high alert on Friday for snap drills that will include dummy missile launches in a display of force amid tensions with the West over the Ukraine war.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the goal of the military drill was to test Russia’s capability and the level of preparedness of its armed forces to mount a response to any aggression.

Along with the missile launches, the drills will also involve nuclear-capable strategic bombers and other warplanes besides the naval aviation of the Pacific Fleet, Shoigu said.

The Russian military has concentrated the bulk of its forces on the front lines in Ukraine, but also continued conducting regular drills across Russia to train its forces and demonstrate their readiness.

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The Russian Defence Ministry released videos showing warships and submarines sailing off to take part in the manoeuvres. As part of the drills, marine units deployed to amphibious landing vessels and coastal defence missile systems moved to firing positions.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the war games as part of regular training intended to “maintain the necessary level of the armed forces’ readiness.”

Shoigu noted that the manoeuvres’ scenario envisages a response to an adversary’s attempt to make a landing on Sakhalin Island and the southern Kuril Islands.

Japan asserts territorial rights to the Kuril Islands, which it calls the Northern Territories. The Soviet Union took them in the final days of World War II, and the dispute has kept the countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities.

Last year, Russia announced it had suspended peace talks with Japan to protest Tokyo’s sanctions against Moscow over its action in Ukraine.

Russia has built up its military presence on the islands in recent years, deploying advanced fighter jets, anti-ship missiles and air defence systems there.

The Pacific Fleet drills started days before a planned trip to Moscow by Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Li Shangfu. The Russian Defence Ministry said Shoigu and Li would discuss “prospects of bilateral defence cooperation and acute issues of global and regional security.”

A three-day visit to Moscow by Chinese President Xi Jinping last month demonstrated the two nations’ partnership in the face of Western efforts to isolate Russia over Ukraine and gave a political lift to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Both Moscow and Beijing have accused Washington of trying to isolate them and to hold back their development as they challenge the U.S. for regional and global leadership.

Putin and Xi said they would increase contacts between their militaries and stage more joint sea and air patrols and drills, but there was no hint that China would help Russia with weapons, as the U.S. and other Western allies feared.

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