MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Moscow and Minsk will hold a joint strategic military exercise dubbed West-2025 next year, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Army General Valery Gerasimov announced.
"Next year, the West-2025 joint strategic exercise with the Belarusian army will be the main training event for the [Russian] Armed Forces," he said at a briefing for foreign military attaches.
Gerasimov pointed out that this year, the Ocean-2024 strategic command and staff drills had been the main military training event in Russia, which involved the country’s fleets and the Caspian Flotilla, as well as units of the Aerospace Forces.
During the exercise, the forces of Russia’s Pacific Fleet stationed in the Far East operated in coordination with the naval and aviation groups of the People’s Liberation Army of China.
Russia’s Navy demonstrated its readiness to perform missions aimed at protecting national interests in crucial maritime areas, and ensure security in cooperation with the armed forces of friendly countries. Ten nations (China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Nicaragua, North Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Vietnam) attended the exercise as observers.
"This practice of military training will continue in the future," Gerasimov said.