Nearly 10,000 troops from Russia and China will participate in the first joint military exercises between the two countries scheduled for August 18-25, the Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

The exercises, dubbed “Peace Mission 2005” and involving army, navy, air force, marine, airborne and logistics units, will be held in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East, and in the coastal Chinese province of Shandong and nearby waters, it said.

“The exercises are not aimed at a third party or concerned with the interests of any third country,” the Chinese defense ministry said in a statement.

Relations between China and Russia, formerly the Soviet Union, were strained by decades of mistrust during the Cold War, but the two nuclear powers have found much common ground in recent years and the military relationship has been blossoming, Reuters points out.

Both are leading members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which in July called for U.S.-led troops to fix a date to pull out of bases in Central Asia. Russia is also a major supplier of weapons to China.

China and Russia have invited the defense ministers from other members of the organization and observer states to watch the joint exercises.

The point of the drills was “to deepen Sino-Russian mutual trust, promote mutual friendship and enhance the cooperation and coordination of the two armed forces”.

They will also “help strengthen the capability of the two armed forces in jointly striking at international terrorism, extremism and separatism”, the statement reads.