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About 80,000 people to be involved in Kavkaz-2020 military drill

Military units from Armenia, Belarus, China, Myanmar and Pakistan were invited to train joint actions within force groupings

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/. About 80,000 people will be involved in the Kavkaz-2020 command and staff exercise, scheduled to be held in Russia from September 21 to September 26, the Russian Defense Ministry told journalists on Monday.

"Overall about 80,000 people are expected to be involved in the Kavkaz-2020 strategic command and staff exercise (including combat support units, combat service support units and technical support units, as well as air defense and naval units, and special troops (the Federal National Guard Troops Service and the Ministry for Emergency Situations)," the ministry said.

It said that up to 250 tanks, up to 450 mechanized infantry fighting vehicles and APCs, as well as up to 200 artillery systems and multiple-launch rocket systems will be used in the exercise on firing grounds.

The exercise will be held under the command of Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.

Participants from other countries

The Russian Defense Ministry told that military from six countries will take part in the upcoming Kavkaz-2020 command and staff exercise.

"Military units from Armenia, Belarus, China, Myanmar and Pakistan were invited to train joint actions within force groupings, up to 1,000 foreign military overall," the ministry added.

Representatives from Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Sri Lanka plan to participate as observers, it specified.

The Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper wrote that about 100 Chinese military have arrived in Russia’s Astrakhan region to participate in the Kavkaz-2020 command and staff exercise.

"Two Y-20 military transport aircraft of the Chinese Air Force with military of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army on board have arrived in the Astrakhan region," it said, adding that the planes had airlifted about 100 military as well as military hardware.

Prior to leaving for Russia, the Chinese military were tested for coronavirus. Russian medics control the wearing of masks and compliance with epidemiological measures.

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