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Zapad-2021 exercise shows Union State’s ability to defend itself — Belarusian minister

According to the minister, results of the exercise are yet to be examined in detail

MINSK, September 17. /TASS/. During the Zapad-2021 military exercise, Russia and Belarus demonstrated their ability to protect sovereignty and independence of the Union State, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said during a closing ceremony on Friday.

"Most importantly, our commanders and staffs practiced joint planning. We managed to demonstrate that we can ensure independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Union State. This sends a clear signal to the West that speaking with Russia, Belarus or Kazakhstan from a position of strength would be futile. We are poised for dialogue," the ministry quoted him as saying.

According to the minister, results of the exercise are yet to be examined in detail.

"When we will be summing up the results, we’ll see what went well and what was flawed. Importantly, we managed to synchronize our reference points with regard to training and building up our armed forces, to define perspectives for our future progress," the minister continued. "Overall, summarizing the results, I would like to say that we managed to practice all aspects with maximum efficiency."

"We do not view any country as a potential adversary. But we once again made sure that we can deploy the Russian regional grouping of forces to the territory of Belarus and <…> to repel the attack of any aggressor trying to infringe upon our independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty," Khrenin added.

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