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Reuters
Reuters
By Mark Trevelyan LONDON (Reuters) -Russia plans to hold strategic military exercises in the east of the country starting next month, the defence ministry said on Tuesday, thousands of miles from the war in Ukraine. The “Vostok” (East) exercises will take place from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5. They appear intended to send a message that Russia, despite the costly five-month war in Ukraine, remains focused on the defence of its entire territory and capable in military terms of sustaining “business as usual”. But that may be a challenge given Moscow’s heavy losses in men and equipment in Ukraine – inclu…