MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- Russia launched a major military drill on Monday, involving almost 80,000 servicemen. Kavkaz-2020 (Caucasus-2020) is the final stage of annual combat training this year, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The main operations during the drill will take place in the North Caucasus, as well as in the Black and Caspian seas, all of which are part of the country’s Southern Military District.
Up to 1,000 servicemen from Armenia, Belarus, China, Myanmar and Pakistan were invited to practice joint actions, while the Iranian military vessels are expected to join naval exercises. Representatives from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Indonesia, Iran and Sri Lanka plan to participate as observers.
The exercise will engage up to 250 tanks, 450 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 200 artillery systems and multiple launch rocket systems.
Earlier, India decided to pull out from multilateral war drills in Russia. In an official statement, New Delhi cited the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason. However, local media reports stated that China and Pakistan’s participation in the exercise was a major factor behind the withdrawal.
"The Kavkaz-2020 drills will particularly focus on combating cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as on fire and electronic warfare activities against entire enemy formations, on training airborne troops’ vertical envelopment capability and ways to rapidly shift between military activities,” the Russian Defense Ministry statement read.
The event is led by Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov.