The SCO exercise, code-named Peace Mission-2007 is, "in essence, a prototype of an anti-terrorist operation, the major task of which is to neutralize resistance and destroy terrorists," Lieutenant-General Vladimir Moltenskoy was quoted as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency.

"The maneuvers will be broadcast on television. A documentary film will be made and used as a training aid for the Armed Forces of the SCO member states," the Russian general said at the Cherbarkul training area, near the southern Ural city of Chelyabinsk.

"The SCO military-political leadership will assess the troops' actions during the exercise," Moltenskoy said.

"We shall teach leaders of the armed forces how to act in the complex conditions where there is neither a front or a rear line," he said earlier.

The general said preparations for the maneuvers were complete. "The leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry worked here on Thursday, checked the infrastructure of the area of the exercises and made a conclusion about our preparedness for them," Moltenskoy said.

"China's army aviation group should arrive at the Shagol airfield, near Chelyabinsk, today to take part in the SCO Peace Mission-2007 exercise," Colonel Igor Konashenkov, deputy head of the Peace Mission-2007 exercise, said earlier in the day.

The Peace Mission-2007 exercise will be held in the territory of the Volga-Urals military district from Aug. 9-17 with the participation of the Russian Armed Forces, units of the 34th motorized rifle division, army and tactical aviation units of the 5th Army of the Air Forces and Air Defense, units of Airborne Forces, Interior Forces, the Central Corrections Department, Border Service and other departments.

The exercise will involve almost 6,000 servicemen, including 2,000 from Russia, 1,600 from China, regiments from Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, and separate special units from other SCO member states.