Chinese Forces Take Centre Stage as Kavkaz-2020 Joint Exercises Wind Down

Units from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have taken centre stage at the Kavkaz-2020 military exercises hosted in Russia, which concluded on September 26th with personnel from Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus, Myanmar and Armenia all taking part. The final phases of the exercises saw a coalition made up of these Asian and post-Soviet states neutralise a mock adversary. According to a report from the Russian Defence Ministry, these forces “carried out a counter-offensive operation to inflict a crushing defeat on the enemy force at the Kapustin Yar proving ground.” This included large scale artillery and rocket strikes followed by a pincer movement to incircle the mock adversary force. The exercise involved around 80,000 personnel, and included aircraft providing close air support ranging from Russian gunships to Su-25 close support jets. Chinese forces made up the most formidable of the foreign contingents at Kavkaz-2020, deploying a range of advanced weapons systems from armour to rocket launchers. The involvement of Chinese units comes as part of a growing trend towards closer cooperation with the Russian military in the face of growing common threats from both terrorism and Western interventionism. All contingents participating were either from member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, or from prospective members, with Iran and Belarus in particular having shown a strong interest in joining the power bloc.