MOSCOW: Russia announced on Monday it would launch sweeping war games in the country's east that will involve forces from China, another indication of increasingly close military ties between Moscow and Beijing amid tensions with the West over the war in Ukraine.

Moscow's Defense Ministry said the Vostok 2022 (East 2022) exercise would be held from September 1 to 7 in various locations in Russia's Far East and the Sea of Japan and involve more than 50,000 troops and over 5,000 weapons units, including 140 aircraft and 60 warships.