KUBINKA (Moscow region). Aug 21 (Interfax) - The Russian Defense Ministry has yet not decided whether or not to invite foreign observers to the 2018 East drills, Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin told Interfax.
"We'll see. For now, we've declared a surprise inspection, which we informed all of the representatives of the military attache corps of yesterday. We also reported it through the OSCE channels, and we will make a relevant decision the drills get closer," Fomin said.
On Monday, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that a surprise combat-readiness inspection of units of the Central and Eastern Military Districts and Long-Range and Military Transport Aviation would be held on August 20-25, ahead of the East 2018 drills, on Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin's orders.
The East exercises will be held in the Central and Eastern Military Districts with the involvement of the Northern Fleet in September.