KHABAROVSK (Sputnik) — Russia and Vietnam will hold the first joint military exercises in the Vietnamese territory in 2016, the head of Russia’s Eastern Military District press service said on Thursday.
"It is planned to use one of the district's combined arms units stationed in the Amur Region," Col. Alexander Gordeev told reporters.
The Eastern Military District is one of the four operational strategic commands of the Russian Armed Forces. The district was formed by a Presidential Decree and signed September 2010.
Russia is currently undergoing a $325-billion rearmament program to achieve a 70-percent modernization of its military by 2020.