The Russian Ministry of Defence stresses that the maneuvers aim to improve the skills of commanders and staff and to improve the interaction between military units. According to the Belarusian Ministry of Defence, the main task of the exercise is to verify the readiness of the armies of both states to defend the State of the Union of Russia and Belarus against possible attack.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Pieskov, assured that the maneuvers were not aimed at any state. He besides added that they would be carried out in the fields located distant from NATO borders to avoid escalation of tensions in relations with Poland and the Baltic States.
According to the messages of the Ministry of Defence of Belarus and Russia, no more than 13,000 soldiers are to participate in the maneuvers. However, any sources propose that the actual scale of engagement may be greater. The Lithuanian intelligence services estimation that about 30,000 military personnel are taking part in the exercises in Belarus and Russia.
Border closed
From the north on Thursday Poland closed all border crossing points with Belarus, and the regulation is valid until further notice. The draft regulation was published the day before by the Government Legislative Centre. The decision to close the border was announced on Tuesday by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, justifying her starting Russian-Belarusian maneuvers.
We are dealing with an expanding number of various provocations from Russia and Belarus, like the arrest of a Polish citizen. This is marked by very aggressive provocations, and so due to the safety of the state we will close the border with Belarus said Donald Tusk.
Real Threat
The head of the MFA Radosław Sikorski, commenting on the situation in TVN24, pointed out that these exercises represent a real threat, despite their cyclical character. He besides emphasized that offensive scenarios appear during maneuvers, and Polish airspace is violated from Belarus.
Before Russia invaded Georgia, she practiced. Before Russia invaded Ukraine, she practiced. Now he's practicing his raid on NATO, and he's besides practicing his atomic weapons. We have learned for 500 years that erstwhile Russia threatens us, unfortunately it must be treated with deadly seriousness. – said the head of the Polish Ministry of abroad Affairs.
Military maneuvers called Zapad have been organized jointly by Russia and Belarus since 2009, in a four-year cycle. erstwhile maneuvers, Zapad-21, are considered part of the preparation and concentration of Russian armed forces prior to a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
NATO's practicing, too.
In consequence to Zapad-25 maneuvers, NATO states besides conduct their own exercises. In Poland there are manoeuvres of the Iron Defender-25 with the participation of about 30 1000 soldiers of the Polish Army and allies, while in Lithuania there are exercises of Thunder Perkuna, which affect 17 1000 soldiers.
