The first echelon with russian servicemen and equipment has arrived in Belarus to participate in the joint strategic exercises “Zapad-2025”, which will be held in September. This was reported on August 6 by “The Moscow Times” Telegram channel, citing the ministry of defense of the country.
During the maneuvers, it is planned to work out new forms and methods of using units of ground forces based on the analysis of modern military conflicts, said deputy commander of the troops of the Northwestern Operational Command Pavel Shebeko, who received the russians.
The “Zapad-2025” exercises are held regularly once every two years. The upcoming events are expected to involve 13 thousand servicemen.
Back on May 16, russia’s defense minister Andrey Belousov announced that the maneuvers would be conducted simultaneously on the territory of both states. The servicemen are to practice “options for joint actions to repel aggression against the Union State” in several strategic directions, he said. However, at the end of the same month, his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin announced that the parameters of “Zapad-2025” would be scaled down and the exercises themselves would be moved away from the borders with NATO countries and Ukraine deeper into the republic. According to him, this would be done to “reduce tensions in the region”, to show Belarus’ “peaceful position” and its readiness for dialogue and compromise “with partners around the world”.