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Russia responds to US actions with Vostok-2018 military drills — senator

These military exercises are meant "to cool down some hotheads", Frants Klintsevich stated

© Yuri Smityuk/TASS

MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. Large-scale strategic drills Vostok-2018 will serve as a response to unfriendly US policy concerning Russia. These military exercises are meant "to cool down some hotheads", First Deputy Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of Russia's Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Frants Klintsevich stated on Tuesday.

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"The main goal of these grand military drills, the most large-scale ones since 1981, is to check the operational readiness of the Russian Armed Forces," he told journalists. According to him, "such a check-up will be quite handy in the context of a very difficult situation in the world." "First and foremost, I mean the unprecedented pressure that the US is exerting on Russia," he noted.

"The 1981 drills, which I had the opportunity to participate in, cooled down some hotheads in their time. Now the upcoming Vostok-2018 drills will fulfill the same role," the senator continued.

Klintsevich also commented upon Washington’s sanctions against Moscow, stating that it is "some kind of a preventive strike on Russia, an attempt to hinder its inevitable rise, its transformation into a leading global power." "This… is an obvious addition to NATO moving east in order to surround our country," he concluded.

The Vostok-2018 drills will be held on September 11-15. The maneuvers have an international status and will involve troops of Russia’s Eastern and Central Military Districts, forces of the Northern Fleet, all units and formations of the Airborne Force, long-range and military transport aircrafts, as well as units of China and Mongolia during one of the drills’ stages.

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