Putin attends joint military drills with China, others

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has attended sweeping war games involving troops from China and other nations in a show of force amid Moscow’s tensions with the West. The weeklong exercise in Russia’s far east that began Thursday is intended to showcase growing defense ties between Russia and China and also demonstrate that Moscow has enough troops and equipment to conduct the massive drills even while its troops are engaged in military action in Ukraine. China has refused to criticize Russia for sending troops into Ukraine, blaming the U.S. and NATO for provoking Moscow, and has blasted the punishing sanctions imposed on Russia. Moscow, in turn, has strongly backed Beijing amid its latest tensions with the U.S.