VLADIVOSTOK, September 6. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday observed the active phase of the strategic command and staff exercises Vostok 2022 at the Sergeyevsky training ground.

The participants of the exercises practiced the ensuring of military security in the eastern region.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Putin had held a closed-door meeting with military staff ahead of observing the drills.

The head of state watched the exercises from a command post, as Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia Valery Gerasimov were next to him.

The president arrived there in a khaki jacket. Upon entering the location, he walked to the observation place and took a chair in the center of the table. A little later, he took binoculars to observe. As he looked on, he was being told about the progress of the maneuvers and the specifications of weapons.

The Vostok 2022 strategic command and staff drills are running on September 1-7 under the command of Chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov to practice defensive and offensive operations at the Burduny, Goryachiye Klyuchi, Knyaze-Volkonsky, Lagunnoye, Sergeyevsky, Telemba and Uspenovsky training grounds of the Eastern Military District and in maritime and coastal areas of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan.

Along with the troops of Russia’s Eastern Military District, Airborne Force units, long-range and military transport aircraft, joint operations during the Vostok 2022 strategic drills will be practiced by military contingents and observers from member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and other partner states, including Azerbaijan, Algeria, Armenia, Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Laos, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Syria and Tajikistan.

In all, the Vostok 2022 strategic maneuvers 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.