Chinese PLA troops participating in the Kavkaz-2020 strategic exercise arrive at a military airport in the Astrakhan Region, Russia, on September 14, 2020.

By Luo Shunyu, Yang Xiaobo and Li Hui

ASTRAKHAN, Russia, Sept. 15 -- All Chinese troops and equipment to participate in Kavkaz-2020 strategic exercise have arrived at exercise venues in Russia in two batches by long-range air delivery. The troops and hardware are from the Western Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

Three Y-20 transport planes landed at a military airport in the Astrakhan Region, Russia on Sunday. This is the first time that the Y-20 transport aircraft formation have performed transnational airlift for heavy equipment along a brand-new route, covering a one-way flight distance of nearly 5,000 kilometers with the flight duration exceeding seven hours.

The Chinese participating troops consist of a exercise directing team, a joint operations commanding team, a combined battle group, a commanding support team, a logistics and equipment support team, and a medical support team.

The first batch of Chinese participating troops arrived at the exercise venue on Sept. 11. They were entrusted to make preparation work including arrangement of camping area, epidemic control, decontamination and disinfection, receiving equipment from the Russian side and exercise-related consultations.

The Kavkaz-2020 strategic exercise is a major training exercise for Russian military this year. The exercise is themed with maintaining regional peace and stability by using multinational joint forces, and focuses on the drills of mobile defense and battle group attack operations.

The wheeled equipment of the Chinese troops to participate in the Kavkaz-2020 strategic exercise gets unloaded from the Y-20 transport aircraft at a military airport in the Astrakhan Region, Russia, on September 14, 2020.