At least 300,000 troops, 36,000 vehicles and 1,000 aircraft will take part in the Vostok 2018 exercises, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
They'll be joined by thousands of troops from China and Mongolia, which the Chinese Defense Ministry insisted wasn't "directed against any third party" and would focus purely on "defenses, firepower strikes and counterattack."
The exercises will be held from September 11 to 17 in Russia's Eastern Military District, an underdeveloped and sparsely populated close to the country's borders with China and Mongolia.
In a statement in August, Gen. Sergi Shoigu, supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces, said the games would be at an "unprecedented scale both in territory and number of troops involved."
The Ministry has previously characterized the exercises as the largest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Personal relations
The exercises coincide with the Russian-sponsored Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on the Russian Pacific coast.
Putin is scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the event Tuesday, during which Russian state media TASS said "several agreements" would be signed.
Trade turnover between Russia and China increased 50% in the first half of 2018, with the total expected to reach $100 billion by the end of the year, according to TASS.
The two leaders have attempted to cultivate a special relationship in recent years, meeting often and making demonstrative public displays of warmth.
Xi's arrival in Vladivostok marks the first time that a Chinese top leader has participated in the annual event, and the third meeting between Xi and Putin in 2018.
In June Putin said President Xi was "the only state leader who has celebrated my birthday with me," while Xi responded by awarding Putin the first-ever Friendship Medal of the People's Republic of China.
The growing closeness between the two men comes amid a deepening of Chinese-Russian relations, amid continued US-led sanctions against Russia and an escalating US-China trade war.
Chinese ambassador to Russia Li Hui said relations between the two neighboring countries were at their "best (level) in history," in an interview with Chinese state media Xinhua.
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