Russia may be telling 'true lies' about its 'unprecedented' war games with China — and it wouldn't be the first time

pulse 19:27 - 13 September 2018

Russia has touted this week's Vostok-18 exercise as "unprecedented in scale." And while it's no doubt big, Moscow may be using old tricks to inflate the numbers for political purposes at home and abroad.

Russia is carrying out "unprecedented" military exercises in its far east this week, with China taking part for the first time.
But there are a number of reasons to believe Moscow has vastly overstated the size of the force involved in the war games and maneuvers.
It wouldn't be the first time Russia used misleading figures, and as in the past, doing so serves propaganda purposes at home and abroad.

This week, Russia kicked off its Vostok-18 military exercises, drills that defense officials claim involve some 300,000 troops, 36,000 tanks, 1,000 aircraft, and scores of warships and have touted as "unprecedented in scale."

That's roughly a third of the entire Russia military, much of which would have to be moved to the far east to participate in these large-scale maneuvers.