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Monday, August 25, 2003

Russia, Japan, S Korea carry out joint military exercises

Agence France-Presse
Vladivostok (Russia), August 25

Some 75 Russian ships, more than 20 aircraft and around 30,000 troops
carried out a joint exercise with military teams from Japan and South Korea
off Russia's Pacific coast on Monday, officials said.

The number of Japanese and South Korean troops and vessels involved was not
specified.

The drill is part of Russia's largest military exercise in 15 years, which
was launched on Saturday and will end on Thursday, the officials added.
Monday's joint drill saw participants tackle the consequences of a mock
explosion on an ice-breaker. US ships had also been scheduled to take part,
but their arrival was delayed by bad weather.

In a separate war game, monitored by Canadian, Chinese and South Korean
military observers, Russian troops fought off "terrorists" who had seized
part of the Russian far-eastern mainland.

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