MINSK, January 27. /TASS/. The scenario of the Russia-Belarus joint drills on Belarusian territory is based on the analysis of developments around Belarus and the crisis situation in Kazakhstan, Chief of the Belarusian General Staff, First Deputy Defense Minister Viktor Gulevich said on Thursday.
"The scenario is based, in particular, on the analysis of the developments around our country in 2020, all unfriendly moves and the unsubstantiated troop amassment, and also the crisis situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan," the Belarusian defense official said at a briefing for military attaches.
The drills that will be held as part of an inspection of the Russia-Belarus Union State’s response forces are pure of defensive nature and pose no threat to the European community or neighboring countries, the chief of the Belarusian General Staff stressed.
"The exercise will make it possible to practically perfect the mechanism of jointly using the defense infrastructure and check the readiness and capability of the designated forces to accomplish assigned tasks," he explained, adding that the Russian troops would leave the territory of Belarus upon the completion of the joint maneuvers.
Basic tasks
Preparations for the troop inspection are taking place amid a complex military and political situation, Gulevich pointed out. He said that the inspection would run in two stages and the Union Resolve 2022 Belarus-Russia joint drills would be held at the concluding stage.
As the Belarusian first deputy defense minister specified, at the first stage that will run until February 10, the participating troops will deploy by a combined method to the initial areas and carry out a set of measures for unit cohesion. They will subsequently advance towards the areas of accomplishing combat training assignments and upon the completion of their deployment, specially assigned units of the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense Troops and the Russian Aerospace Force will embark on joint air patrolling.
A major task of the first stage of the troop inspection is to create task forces in potentially dangerous areas depending on the situation within a short period of time, Gulevich stressed.
"The active phase of the inspection will begin from February 10 with the Union Resolve 2022 joint exercise that will focus on thwarting external aggression in the course of a defensive operation, countering terrorism, and protecting the Union State’s interests," the chief of the Belarusian General Staff said.
At the second stage, the main attention will be paid to defensive operations to shield the state border of Belarus, including on the southern flank, and combat training tasks to strike the intruding enemy by firepower, including live-fire practice and bombing strikes. At the final stage, the troops will practice routing the enemy in a counter-offensive, the Belarusian defense official said.
The Union Resolve 2022 joint Russia-Belarus drills will run on Belarusian territory on February 10-20.