Russia completes today its largest military exercises since the fall of the Soviet Union. With naval vessels operating in the Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific, Baltic, Caspian, and Mediterranean, President Putin seeks through his Ocean-24 exercise to divert attention from his stalled war in Ukraine and to remind Communist China and the world that Russia is still a maritime power.
Russia’s defense ministry said that 400 vessels, 120 aircraft and helicopters, and 90,000 personnel, are taking part in the exercise. Even with four Chinese warships and a supply vessel joining maneuvers in the northern Pacific, the Russian numbers seem to be a stretch.
