MINSK, August 5. /TASS/. The Zapad-2021 (West-2021) Russian-Belarusian joint strategic drills are of defensive nature and reaffirm the course towards strengthening regional security, Chief of the Belarusian General Staff, First Deputy Defense Minister Viktor Gulevich said on Thursday.
"The Zapad-2021 joint strategic drills are a defensive exercise that reaffirms the course of the Republic of Belarus towards strengthening regional security and the commitment to allied obligations with the Russian Federation," the head of the Belarusian General Staff said.
In the process of working out the scenario of the drills, the top brass took into account the present-day approaches towards troop employment based on the experience of armed conflicts in recent years, operational training measures and also the forms and techniques of employing troops worked out in the armed forces of Russia and Belarus, he specified.
The scenario of the Zapad-2021 maneuvers envisages an escalation of the international situation and a potential aggression against the Russia-Belarus Union State, the chief of the Belarusian General Staff stressed.
"In the process of working it out [the plan of the drills], a potential scenario of the military and political situation was taken into account that envisages an escalation of international disputes to the level that may destabilize the situation in the region and unleash an aggression against the Union State," Gulevich said.
The plan of the drills is based on the scenario of "a crisis situation emerging in a conflict that breaks out and develops due to the increased activity of outlawed armed gangs, separatist and international terrorist organizations that enjoy external support," the chief of the Belarusian General Staff said.
The territories of the opposing sides and the state borders were notionally designated in the drills, he stressed.
The Zapad-2021 Russia-Belarus joint strategic drills pose no threat to the European community and neighboring countries, Gulevich said.
"The exercise poses no threat to the European community as a whole or to neighboring countries," he emphasized.
"It will make it possible to improve in practice the mechanism of jointly using military infrastructure, check the readiness and capability of the regional grouping of forces to accomplish assigned tasks," the chief of the Belarusian General Staff said.
The Zapad-2021 drills will run at practice ranges in Belarus and Russia on September 10-16.