Under wing of Russia: Donbas separatists to stage war game in step with Zapad-2017


Russia-backed separatists are getting ready for staging a military exercise in the territory of Donbas, Dmitry Tymchuk, a Ukrainian MP and coordinator of the Resistance News group said on Facebook.



The exercise will be held alongside with the joint Russian-Belarusian strategic war game Zapad-2017, he added .

The maneuvers will reportedly take place under the command of Russian officers and chiefs of staff. At the moment the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk republics are making lists of military equipment and persons liable for duty.

The Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad 2017 scheduled for September, 14-20 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. In September, there will be about 10,000 troops involved in the exercise in the Belarusian territory (7,200 – the Belarusian Armed Forces and about 3,000 – the Russian Army).

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. Belarusian democratic circles fear that Russian troops will not come back home after the war game. In turn, First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff Aleh Belakoneu promised that the Russian army forces would leave Belarus’ territory by 30 September.

The Belarusian National Congress (BNC) is organizing a protest rally on September 8 at 19:00 in Kastrychnitskaya Square in Minsk. The event is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the famous battle of Orsha. The participants will be protesting against ‘occupation from the inside’ and external aggression.

belsat.eu

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