Military drills

20 Feb, 08:51

Russia, Belarus to hold Zapad 2025 strategic drills in September — top brass

Chief of the Belarusian Defense Ministry’s Department for International Military Cooperation Valery Revenko said that the exercise is large and observable

MINSK, February 20. /TASS/. Russia and Belarus will hold the Zapad 2025 joint strategic drills in mid-September, Chief of the Belarusian Defense Ministry’s Department for International Military Cooperation Valery Revenko said on Thursday, the BelTA news agency reported.

"The exercise is large and observable: it will bring together over 13,000 personnel. As of today, we are elaborating a position on inviting OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] member states to this exercise," the Belarusian defense official said.

Minsk "adheres to the Vienna Document 2011 [on Confidence-and Security-Building Measures]," he stressed.

"However, I can’t say right now about inviting some states that have a negative or specific attitude to the fulfillment of this document precisely in relation to our state," he added.

Last year, Poland, Estonia and Latvia did not invite Belarus to some drills, he recalled.

"But again, we don’t’ say ‘no.’ We say that we will look at further steps that the leaders of those states and the heads of their defense ministries will take," Revenko said.

As reported earlier, the General Staffs of the Armed Forces of Russia and Belarus have launched preparations for the Zapad 2025 strategic drills. Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin has said that exercises of this scope make it possible "in practice to check the level of the regional grouping’s combat preparedness and the ability of troops to jointly accomplish assigned missions."

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