All the Russian troops, who were involved in the Belarusian-Russian strategic exercise “Zapad-2017”, returned to their places of permanent deployment, reported the Russian Defense Ministry.
“As for the divisions of Russian troops participating in joint strategic exercise “Zapad-2017”, all of them returned to their places of permanent deployment,” said the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major-General Igor Konoshenkov.
Several days ago, the chief of the General Staff of Ukraine Viktor Muzhenko said that some Russian units remained in Belarus. According to the Ukrainian general, Russia withdrew only several units from Belarus and lied about how many troops there were originally.
According to Konoshenkov, Muzhenkov’s statement “hidden Russian troops in Belarus” show his incompetence.
Belarus Ministry of Defense did not comment on the statement by Viktor Muzhenko. But already on September 28, the Defense Ministry of Belarus said that the last echelon with Russian military personnel and equipment, which have participated in the “Zapad” exercises, left for their permanent deployment site from “one of the railway stations of Barysau.”
Meanwhile, on September 25, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that a special operations unit of the Airborne Troops (VDV) of Russia arrived in Minsk to participate in the bilateral joint special tactical exercises, preparation for which will take place from 25 September to 8 October. The next day, the Belarusian Defense Ministry also announced the arrival of the Russian special forces. The number of Russian military was not specified.
belsat.eu
