In a change from previous practice in the Vostok series, the Russian military divided its forces into two groups, which simulated fighting each other rather than an imaginary opponent. Although the PLA contingent was small, its presence signaled both China’s desire to learn from Russia’s recent military experience and the growing strength of the defense cooperation between the two countries. Russia and China have been holding joint military exercises for more than a decade – including joint drills under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization since 2005 and joint naval exercises since 2012 – but this was the first time that China had joined a domestic Russian military exercise. China and Mongolia, which also participated, became the first countries outside of the former Soviet Union to join the Vostok exercises. The PLA sent 3,200 military personnel as well as 30 aircraft and 900 tanks and armored vehicles. The actual size of the exercises appears to have been considerably smaller, as Shoigu’s figures for personnel reflected entire brigades and divisions rather than the particular battalions and regiments that actually participated. Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, announced in August that the exercises would feature 300,000 military personnel, 36,000 tanks and armored vehicles, more than 1,000 aircraft, and 80 ships, making these exercises the largest on Russian territory since the Soviet Union’s Zapad-81 exercises in 1981. The two most notable aspects of Vostok-2018 were its projected size and China’s participation. Russia held its quadrennial Vostok (East) military exercises September 11–17.
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