Russia and Belarus officially launch joint strategic exercise "West 2025"

On September 12, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russia and Belarus had officially launched the joint strategic exercise "West-2025".Thousands of soldiers from the two countries will participate, which will last until September 16, with the aim of strengthening the cooperation between the two forces to test their ability to repel offensive, recover land and defend borders.

The exercise, which took place earlier this week after Poland accused ¡°Russian drones of entering the airspace¡± of raising concerns about the security situation in parts of NATO¡¯s eastern flank.

Not targeted at ¡°any third country¡±

The "Western" joint military exercises began in 1999 and are key activities for strengthening coordination between the armed forces of the two countries. Since 2009, they have been held every four years.

This year¡¯s exercises are mainly held in Belarus, which borders western Belarus with several EU and NATO member states (Poland, Latvia and Lithuania) and southern Belarus with Ukraine.

The Russian side said the exercises were planned in advance and were not aimed at ¡°any third country¡± and would be divided into two phases: the first phase focused on defense and coordination, and the second phase focused on recovering lost ground and defeating enemy troops.

Belarus also stressed that the exercises are defensive in nature and are limited to its eastern regions.

According to the news released by the two sides, from the site, the exercises involve Russian and Belarusian targets as well as the Baltic Sea and the Baltic Sea. In which, part of the exercises will be carried out in the area of Grodno, which borders Belarus with Poland and Lithuania.

From a scale point of view, it is that about 8,000 soldiers participated in the exercise, a significant decrease compared to the 200,000 soldiers in the ¡°West-2021¡± exercise.

In addition to heavy armored vehicles, helicopters, ships and drones, the exercise will showcase the new Russian nuclear-powered medium-range ballistic missile "Oleishnik" and carry out nuclear strike training.

It has been commented that the small-scale exercise would send a ¡°nuclear signal¡± to the West, but it does not mean it would pose a direct military threat to any NATO member state.

The new anxiety.

The exercise was carried out at a time when NATO¡¯s eastern wing tensions intensified and Poland this week accused Russia of deliberately launching drones into its airspace.

In response to this, Poland and NATO emergency departure fighters shot down a drone.This is the first time NATO has opened fire on Russian targets since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2022.

In this context, new unrest has emerged in the eastern wing of NATO and some NATO member states remain highly alert to the military exercises.

Belarus has issued invitations to the other 56 members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), including the United States, Canada, and nine NATO countries with military officers in Minsk.

It is said that the move follows international transparency mechanisms to demonstrate military power to the international community, or to help reduce international tensions and misunderstandings, and to provide a code for diplomatic negotiations, in accordance with the diplomatic and strategic interests of Belarus and Russia.

But the Polish side is still at odds. Prime Minister Tusk said that after the ¡°drone invasion¡± incident, the ¡°Western¡± exercises held by Putin put Poland in the ¡°most close to conflict since World War II.¡±

In response, Poland closed its land border with Belarus, banned flights from border areas, and launched a military exercise code-named "Iron Guard 2025".According to the Polish Defence Minister, about 30,000 Polish and other European troops participated in the exercise, with another 5,000 troops stationed on the border with Belarus.

The Lithuanian side said it would strengthen its military presence in the border area, but has not yet closed its land border with Belarus.

Meanwhile, Latvia began the "Names-2025" exercise on September 2 with the participation of approximately 1,20,000 soldiers.

Germany is leading the "four chariots - 2025" exercise in the Baltic region, with the participation of about 8,000 soldiers from 14 European and American countries.

Overall, NATO responded calmly to the Russian-White exercises, and its member states appeared to be engaging in a ¡°dialogue¡± with Russia through a series of military exercises.

Lance Randrum, senior researcher at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said the joint military exercise ¡°West 2025¡± would give NATO an in-depth understanding of Russia¡¯s capabilities and strategies.

(Editor's email: ylq@jfdaily.com)

Russian and White military exercises invite dozens of European and American visitors, Poland urgently closed the border, calling it "the closest to conflict since World War II"

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Source: Liberation Daily °²