The joint strategic exercise of the Armed Forces of Belarus and Russia Zapad-2017 has kicked off today.
Belarus will provide the training grounds Lepelski, Barysauski, Losvida, Asipovitski, two exercise areas of the Air Force and Air Defense Command near Ruzhanski and Damanava and two areas near Dretun and Hlybokaye in Vitsebsk region. Russia will provide training grounds in Kaliningrad, Leningrad and Pskou region, state-run news agency BelTA reports.
According to official information,12,700 troops will be engaged in the war game. Around 10,200 soldiers will be present in the territory of Belarus (over 7,000 from Belarus, 3,000 – from Russia) as well as 140 tanks. There will also be 40 aviation equipment pieces, 150 mortars and multiple rocket launchers.
The Belarusian Defense Ministry revealed its scenario in late August: ‘Veyshnoryia’, ‘Vesbaryia’ and ‘Lubeniya’ attack Belarus and Russia. The enemy is conditional, but one can easily recognize the areas plotted on the map – Poland, Lithuania, Western Belarus.
The war game consists of two stages. During the first three-day stage troops are expected to be prepared for combat deployment and isolating the areas where illegal armed groups and the enemy’s sabotage and reconnaissance forces operate. Air Force and Air Defense units in charge of protecting important government institutions and military installations will be reinforced. The second four-day stage aims at drilling troops handling during a combat operation.
Zapad-2017 is supposed to demonstrate ‘persistence in efforts to ensure security of the two brotherly nations’. Such exercises are held in Belarus and Russia interchangeably every two years.
At the same time, Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite and a number of European politicians believe that the ‘West-2017’ demonstrates the preparation of Belarus and Russia to the war with the West. In mid April, Oleksandr Turchynov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, stressed that the joint military exercise might become the preparation for an assault against Ukraine in September. In turn, Belarusian democratic circles fear that Russian troops will not come back home after the war game.
