Russia is preparing for the large-scale military exercises Center-2019. Maneuvers, scheduled for mid-September 2019 of the year, will bring together not only Russian troops, but also soldiers and officers from a number of Asian countries.
Who will take part in military exercises
As became known, in the command and staff exercises "Center-2019" will take part, in addition to Russian parts and formations, armed forces of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, as well as foreign countries - China, India and Pakistan.
With Kazakhstan, Everything is clear to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - these countries are parties to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), existing with 2002 years and solving common tasks in the direction of ensuring security and peace in the post-Soviet space.
China is increasingly conducting joint military exercises with the Russian Federation. So, even a joint air patrol was recently conducted by the Russian Air Force and the Chinese Air Force, which caused a sharply negative reaction in the USA, Japan and South Korea.
For China, Russia is currently an important economic and political partner., especially, what are the challenges in Central Asia, and in the Pacific region are approximately the same - this is the opposition to terrorism and religious radicalism in Central Asia and the opposition to the plans of the United States and its allies (Japan and South Korea) in the Pacific.
India has always been one of the largest military trade partners of the Russian Federation, acquiring from our country the most diverse weapons and military equipment. It is not surprising, that the Indian military will take part in the exercises. Although India, unlike China, very good relations with the United States and Great Britain, partnership with Russia and the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia is also important for her.
Participation in joint military exercises for India is a great opportunity to observe the combat use of new samples of Russian-made military equipment, since the country is one of the key buyers of our weapons and is interested in exploring its capabilities.
In recent years, Pakistan has significantly changed its foreign policy vector.. Previously, Pakistan was seen as a clear ally of the United States in South and Central Asia., but now the situation has changed. Donald Trump administration is very unhappy with Pakistan's policies, counting, that Islamabad indulges Islamic radicals. Against the background of deteriorating relations with the United States, Pakistan is increasingly interacting with China and Russia.. The participation of the Pakistani army in the upcoming military exercises is further evidence of this.
Russian leadership declares, that the main goal of the exercises is to test the combat readiness of units and formations of the Russian army, and foreign states do not threaten these exercises in any way. Interestingly, exercises will be held in the Central Military District and in the Arctic. Moscow expects to work out the actions of Russian troops to ensure security and combat the terrorist threat in Central Asia.
Respectively, the armies of those states are also involved, for which security in the Central Asian region is also on the list of national interests. Russian military training grounds “Chebarkulsky” were chosen as the places for the exercises, "Yurginsky", Aleysky, Totsky, "Pig", Adanak, and training grounds of the Air Force and Air Defense Forces "Ashuluk", Safakulevo.
A number of maneuvers planned in the Arctic, over a vast territory from the Novosibirsk islands to Novaya Zemlya. Russian paratroopers are going to hold the largest for 38 years landing.
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Will take part in exercises until 128 thousands of people. In the practical actions of the troops, which will be worked out at the Totsky test sites, Adanak and Donguz will be involved 12 thousand 950 human, including 10 thousand 700 military personnel of the Russian army and before 2 thousand 250 military personnel of foreign armies. It is also planned to participate approximately 250 tanks, 450 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, to 200 artillery shells and multiple launch rocket systems, 15 ships and auxiliary vessels, 600 aircrafts, various auxiliary equipment.
On the part of the Russian Federation, military command and control bodies and troops of the Central Military District will participate, Caspian Flotilla of the Southern Military District, units and formations of the troops of the Eastern Military District, Russian Airborne Forces, long-range and military transport aviation of the Aerospace Forces of Russia. The direct management of maneuvers will be carried out by the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Army General Valery Gerasimov.
by the way, exercises "Center 2015", having a certain resemblance and held four years ago, characterized by the participation of a much smaller number of military - not 128 thousand, a 95 thousands of people. Besides, only Kazakhstan took part in the exercises “Center - 2015” from foreign countries, but the military power of Kazakhstan and its influence on the political situation in Asia is much less, than similar characteristics of China, India and Pakistan. So the teachings 2019 years are distinguished by a disproportionately large military-political significance, not just large scale.
West cautiously reacted to exercises
The news of Russia's large-scale military exercises, moreover, with the involvement of the armies of other states, was met with great concern by the leadership of the United States and its allies in the North Atlantic Alliance.
At first, military exercises are distinguished by their scale - they are involved as ground forces, so is aviation, fleet, air defense. The number of military personnel is also impressive., who will be involved in exercises. Russia demonstrates to the West, which possesses great military power and is capable of conducting grandiose operations involving a wide variety of military branches.
Secondly, Запад обеспокоен направленностью учений на Арктику и Центральную Азию – не секрет, что именно эти регионы в последнее время стали центром внимания американских военных аналитиков. The US is going to compete with Russia in the Arctic, and Central Asia is viewed from the point of destabilizing the political situation in the post-Soviet republics, активизации террористических группировок, в том числе действующих и с территории соседнего Афганистана.
Thirdly, Запад очень тревожит международный характер учений. Of course, Americans are not concerned about the participation of the Kyrgyz or Tajik military - they already know, that Russia plays a key role in training military personnel for the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia. Much more interesting is the participation in the military exercises of China, India and Pakistan.
For the West, the military alliance of Russia and China is a real nightmare. And no less a nightmare - a military partnership with India and Pakistan. Indeed, cooperation with the largest and most militarily powerful Asian states creates enormous obstacles to the implementation of American plans for domination in the Asia-Pacific region and in Central Asia.
Ведь американцы привыкли рассматривать тот же Пакистан в качестве своего постоянного и верного союзника, а теперь Исламабад все больше дрейфует в сторону Китая и России, что не может не вызывать опасений у американского военно-политического руководства. Of course, говорить о превращении Пакистана в союзника России не представляется возможным, but joint military exercises are a pretty alarming signal.
Why Center-2019 exercises are so important for Russia
Military exercises allow the Russian army to work out possible actions in a variety of climatic and geographical conditions. Our military will gain invaluable experience - for example, десантники не будут до последнего знать о том, где им предстоит высаживаться. Это повысит адаптационные возможности российских военнослужащих к действиям в непредвиденных ситуациях, in an unfamiliar area.
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Besides, laying the foundation for joint action with the armed forces of other states. It is very important, for example, to practice action against terrorist groups. Активизация террористов на Ближнем и Среднем Востоке вызывает большие опасения у государств Центральной Азии, но поскольку Кыргызстан, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan alone are unlikely to cope with large-scale challenges, their armed forces learn to act together with the Russian and Chinese armies.
The Russian army has extensive experience in real combat in local wars., obtained during the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, armed conflict with Georgia and, most importantly, years of Syrian civil war. And this experience can be extremely interesting for foreign military. On the other hand, do not forget about the presence of specific experience in the fight against terrorism in the Pakistani and Indian military, who can also transfer certain knowledge to officers and soldiers of the armies of other states, taking part in military exercises.
But it’s worth noting, that military exercises are not only applied to modern Russia, but also symbolic meaning. Moscow is also interested in, to demonstrate to the West not only its power capabilities, but also established relations with the three nuclear powers of Asia.
Conducting joint exercises, Russia shows, что с ней готовы вместе действовать Казахстан и Пакистан, Индия и Китай. This is a kind of warning to the West - in the East, full-fledged military cooperation is also possible, and they really want to cooperate with Russia there.
Finally, military exercises provide wonderful opportunities for the presentation of Russian military equipment. The command of the armies of the countries participating in the exercises gets the opportunity to observe new Russian military equipment, explore its real benefits. It is not excluded, that after such exercises Russia in the foreseeable future will conclude some kind of arms supply agreements. Especially, that India and China traditionally buy Russian weapons, and Pakistan has also recently made large military orders.
Indian, Chinese and Pakistani senior officers, taking part in military exercises, it will be interesting and gain the best practices of the Russian military, get acquainted with the organization of military service in the Russian army. Quite possibly, that the exercises will open a new page in the cooperation of our countries in the field of military education: eg, cadets from India will go to Russia to receive military specialties, Pakistan and China.
Finally, do not forget about the diplomatic significance of the exercises. The same India and Pakistan - traditional military-political opponents, more than once fought with each other and even now are in very difficult relationships, especially after the Indian government abolished the real autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir.
But at the Center-2019 exercises, Indian and Pakistani military will act as partners for joint training. And Russia gives them such an opportunity., interested in peaceful and good relations as with India, so with Pakistan.
Ilya Polonsky
