Russia Stages Military Drills in Contested South China Sea

The Russian navy continued its deployment in the Indo-Pacific region as a detachment of warships trained for air defense in the South China Sea, according to a report on Thursday.

The Russian flotilla is composed of corvettes Gromky, Rezky and Hero of Russia Aldar Tsydenzhapov, as well as support vessel Pechenga, which are under the command of the Pacific Fleet. They have visited Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia since October 14.

The Russian military on Thursday did not reveal the precise training location in the South China Sea, where tensions between China, a quasi-ally of Russia, and the Philippines, a United States’ treaty ally, remain high over territorial disputes in the contested waters.

Last week, two Philippine laws were signed aimed at reinforcing the country’s maritime territories, including parts of the South China Sea. On Wednesday, the Chinese military claimed that it had patrolled a disputed reef in the region within Manila’s maritime zone.

Regarding the South China Sea disputes, Russia has voiced its support to China as both sides opposed what they called interference by “extra-regional forces” in this issue. The U.S. and its allies have shown support for Manila by conducting multilateral exercises.

The Russian navy has also conducted exercises with its Chinese counterpart. In July, they held a war game in waters off the coast of southern China, which faces the South China Sea to the south, demonstrating their capabilities in addressing maritime security threats.

According to the Russian Pacific Fleet, the corvette-led flotilla was on a deployment in the Asia-Pacific region to accomplish missions. It was announced on October 5 that the naval group left its base at Vladivostok in the Russian Far East region and headed southward.

The training in the South China Sea also came after the conclusion of a Russia-Indonesia joint naval exercise in the Java Sea, which connects the South China Sea to its northwest. This indicated the Russian naval vessels were on a northbound voyage as of Thursday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy continued its operations in the South China Sea, where one of its destroyers, the missile-armed USS Dewey, conducted a damage control drill aboard while underway somewhere in the region on November 9, according to official photos.

On October 28, two U.S. littoral combat ships, USS Savannah and USS Omaha, transited the South China Sea for routine operations. They are smaller than the destroyer but fast and agile, capable of operating in littorals to support maritime security and sea control.

Forces assigned to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command “perform operations in and around critical sea passages and trade thoroughfares to deter threats that create regional instability and impinge on the free flow of goods, people and ideas,” the U.S. Navy said at the time.