By Lyu Desheng and Yang Xiaobo
YINCHUAN, Aug. 19 -- The last batch of Russian troops participating in the joint exercise Zapad/Interaction-2021 departed from a military airport in China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to return home on the afternoon of August 17. Representatives from the Chinese participating troops held a farewell ceremony at the airport.
This exercise marks the first time that the Russian military has dispatched troops to China to participate in astrategic and operational exercise hosted by the Chinese military. The participating troops of both sides accomplished all the drill targets as scheduled, as they successively held drills of more than 20 subjects including joint firepower strikes, joint three-dimensional seizure of targets, joint parachuting assaults, and joint obstacle overcoming during the two phases of joint planning and live-fire operations.
Since the exercise wrapped up last Friday, the Russian troops involved have returned to Russia in batches by taking Il-76 military transport aircraft, and five Su-30 fighters sent by the Russian military to the exercise have also returned to Russia.
Both Chinese and Russian participating troops learned from each other and fought side-by-side during the exercise, having forged a close friendship.
The exercise fully reflected the new height of the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new eta between the two countries, and fully demonstrated the two militaries’ strong determination and ability in jointly safeguarding regional peace and security.
