MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. The Russian and Chinese navies will operate in the Sea of Japan in the upcoming Vostok 2022 strategic drills, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin told a briefing for foreign military attaches on Monday.

"The [Russian] Pacific Fleet jointly with the Navy of the People’s Liberation Army of China will practice interoperability in the northern and central parts of the Sea of Japan in the Far Eastern maritime zone with the aim of assisting ground forces in the Primorye direction and defending sea lanes and areas of maritime economic activity," Fomin said.

General-purpose naval forces will practice operations in the waters and in the coastline areas of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, he added.

The Vostok 2022 strategic command and staff drills will run on September 1-7 under the command of Chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov on the territory of Russia’s Eastern Military District and will be the final stage of the training of the Russian Armed Forces this year.

The strategic exercise will bring together over 50,000 troops and more than 5,000 items of armaments and military hardware, in particular, 140 aircraft, 60 combat ships, gunboats and support vessels.