Russia, China and six other nations commenced the anti-terrorism “Peace Mission 2018,” joint war games conducted by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, over the weekend.
More than 3,000 troops from China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are participating in the joint drills, Newsweek reported Monday.
Here is a video clip from the Russian Embassy of some of the drills:
#SCO’s Peace Mission 2018 counter-terror command and staff drills run at the Chebarkul training range in @Russia🇷🇺. Over 3,000 troops from of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, China, India and Pakistan
It is also the first-ever military collaboration between 🇮🇳&🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/ZPBLrbcqG6— Russia in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) August 27, 2018
Here are photos from earlier this month showing Chinese military equipment arriving in Russia for the joint drills:
Chinese equipment has arrived in Russia for Peace Mission 2018 pic.twitter.com/RMPc5lsRRp
— 下个ID见 (@N3tvsGwZ2pGKEp4) August 19, 2018
This is the first time Pakistan and India’s militaries have ever collaborated together.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or Shanghai Pact, was formed in 2001, and is a Eurasian alliance that includes Russia and China.
Its main goal is to counter the influence of NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an international military alliance of 29 European and North American countries – including the United States.
The SCO states on its website that its main goals are, “strengthening mutual trust and neighborliness among the member states; promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, as well as in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, and other areas; making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region; and moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order.”
The SCO recently held its sixth Meeting of Ministers of Justice of the Member States, on Aug. 24.
The massive joint war games come during times of tension among the U.S. and both China and Russia.
The United States and China are currently in the midst of a trade war, with each country introducing tariffs on goods has introduced tariffs on goods they normally trade with one another.
President Trump also tweeted last week that China is not helping as much in progress with the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
“I do not believe they [China] are helping with the process of denuclearization as they once were (despite the UN Sanctions which are in place),” Trump tweeted Aug. 24.
…Additionally, because of our much tougher Trading stance with China, I do not believe they are helping with the process of denuclearization as they once were (despite the UN Sanctions which are in place)…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2018
Trump has said in the past he would like to have a good relationship with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.
However, there has been a year-long investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russia’s alleged hacking of the 2016 Presidential election. There was also a recent announcement from Microsoft that it uncovered attempts by Russia to hack into U.S. political groups ahead of midterm elections. Facebook also recently foiled political influence campaigns from Russia, as well as Iran, ahead of midterms.
There was even a report about Russian spy software being on hundreds of thousands of home routers in the U.S.
