MOSCOW, January 2. /TASS/. The Zapad-2021 (or West-2021) Russian-Belarusian military exercise will focus on countering cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, Russia’s Western Military District said in a statement.

"The Zapad-2021 drills will focus on combating cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as on fire and electronic warfare activities against enemy formations, ways to train airborne troops’ vertical envelopment capability and rapidly shift between military activities," the statement reads.

The exercise will involve troops from the Western Military District’s Combined Arms Army. Snap combat readiness checks will be conducted as part of preparations for the drills.

The Zapad-2021 Russian-Belarusian exercise, aimed at ensuring the military security of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, will take place in September 2021. The plan of the exercise was approved at a joint board meeting of the two countries’ defense ministries in October 2020.