MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. The Russian and Belarusian militaries will practice a scenario that will require engaging the two friendly countries’ entire military potential to reliably ensure the Union State’s security, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said on Tuesday.
"A situation may emerge when the regional group’s forces and capabilities are not sufficient for reliably ensuring the Union State’s security and we must be ready for its reinforcement. An agreement has been reached jointly with the Belarusian side that it will be necessary to engage the State’s entire military potential for joint defense," Fomin told a briefing for foreign military diplomats.
In this regard, the upcoming drills on the territory of Belarus "will involve some command centers and units of Russia’s Eastern Military District that are engaged in a surprise inspection underway in the Russian Armed Forces in January this year," he specified.
Russia’s Defense Ministry earlier reported about measures currently underway in the Eastern Military District, the deputy defense minister said.
Exercise of the Union State’s joint reaction force
According to Alexander Fomin, a variety of joint operations for neutralizing threats and risks of destabilization on the borders of Russia and Belarus will be practiced during an exercise of the Union State’s joint reaction force.
"The presidents of Russia and Belarus agreed to hold this exercise back last December. The presidents made a decision to carry out an early check of the troops’ readiness for maintaining military security and to practice various scenarios of joint operations to neutralize threats and destabilization risks on the border of the Union State," Fomin told a news briefing for foreign military attaches.
He recalled that various options of using the regional group were tried on a regular basis.
"Last year there was the Zapad-2021 exercise. It confirmed the group’s high combat readiness," Fomin said.
As he welcomed the foreign guests at the Russian Defense Ministry, Fomin added that the purpose of the briefing was to inform them on progress in testing the readiness of the Union State’s forces.