Russia's Scripted War Games Failing to Prepare Troops, Aim to Impress: U.K.

Russian military exercises involving forces from China and other allies are a PR stunt that will involve far fewer troops than previous war games, according to British defense officials.

Russia said the Vostok 2022 (East 2022) exercises that last until September 7 would take place at seven firing ranges in Russia's Far East and the Sea of Japan, involving more than 50,000 troops and 5,000 weapons units, including 140 aircraft and 60 warships.

General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian general staff, will oversee the drills, which will involve troops from several ex-Soviet nations as well as China, India, Laos, Mongolia, Nicaragua and Syria.

The British Ministry of Defense (MOD) said on Friday that it was "unlikely" that more than 15,000 personnel would be "actively involved this year," around one-fifth of the forces that took part in the last Vostok exercise in 2018.

It said that the performance of the Russian military during its invasion of Ukraine has shown how strategic exercises conducted by Russia, such as Vostok, "have failed to sustain the military's ability to conduct large scale, complex operations."

"Such events are heavily scripted, do not encourage initiative, and primarily aim to impress Russian leaders and international audiences."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment about the daily assessment by British defense officials, which usually emphasizes the country's military losses and shortcomings.

Dionis Cenusa, visiting fellow at the Eastern Europe Studies Center, told Newsweek that the drills were part of a Russian propaganda effort aimed at the West and Global South.

"Since Western sanctions were triggered to punish and deter further Russian aggression against Ukraine, Moscow has been working hard to strengthen dialogue with 'friendly' countries around the world using all international platforms to which it has access," he said.

"The objective is vital and is to disprove to the West that Russia is isolated and to show the domestic audience that the West cannot unite around itself and against Russia."

Other experts noted how much smaller the drills were compared with the last time they took place in 2018.

"We knew that Vostok 2022 would be far smaller than previous annual command-staff exercises," tweeted military analyst Rob Lee, "but compare the first two photos from the Vostok 2022 opening ceremony to the last two from Vostok 2018."

He shared images of a much smaller turnout at Thursday's ceremony at Sergeevsky training area in the Primorsky region, which contrasted with the same event four years ago.

Dara Massicot, senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, tweeted that the comparison of the images was "revealing," adding, "it makes the strain of the war in Ukraine more noticeable this time."

"Vostok 2018 was so large they held it at Tsugol training area in Siberia. Not so this year," Massicot tweeted, adding that Russia's Eastern Military District units, "where this is taking place, were sent to Belarus and on to the Kyiv offensive, before being repurposed elsewhere."

Alexander Gabuev, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Associated Press that the exercises would allow Beijing "to show to the U.S. that it has levers to pressure America and its global interests."

They would also signal that if the U.S. pressure on Beijing continues "it will have no other choice but to strengthen the military partnership with Russia."

Sarang Shidore, director of studies at the Quincy Institute, wrote in Responsible Statecraft that the list of countries from outside the former Soviet Union joining as participants or observers in Vostok 2022 "is much longer," and that "the true significance of Vostok 2022 is not size, but its participants."