Russian defense chief hails joint military drills with China

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s defense minister has hailed joint war games with China this week as a sign of increasingly close military cooperation, and vowed to further bolster it. Sergei Shoigu flew to China to attend the drills that wrapped up Friday in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. He noted that the exercise marked the first time that Russian troops had taken part in joint drills on the territory of China, adding that it reflected a “new level” of military cooperation. Russia has sought to expand ties with China as its relations with the West sank to post-Cold War lows over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea, accusations of Russian hacking attacks, interference in elections and other disputes.