Samuel Bendett, an associate research analyst in the Center for Naval Analyses’ Russia Program and a Russian studies fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, discusses the on-going Vostock Exercise which includes Russian and Chinese military personnel during an August 2018 interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian in Washington. According to Bendett the exercise demonstrates the Russian intention to put the world, and specifically the UnitedStates, on notice that they are again a world military power. Bendett explained the Russians haven’t done a large scale exercise in many years, the potential to put 100,000 troops into the exercise speaks to their overall increased capability, as well as the specific progress made in command and control and logistics.
