Russia has showcased its advanced weapons during joint military exercises held with Belarusian troops amid tension with the NATO after Moscow’s violation of airspace of Poland and Romania this week.
Dubbed “Zapad-2025” or "West 2025”, the drills involve up to 7,000 troops, including 6,000 Belarusian soldiers and are held in both countries’ territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who supervised the drills on Tuesday, revealed that they take place at 41 training grounds, involving 100,000 servicemen and about 10,000 units of weapons and equipment. Addressing the participants in the Mulino training ground in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Putin said the exercises were aimed to practice defending from aggression the “Union State” – a name given to the alliance between Russia and its close ally Belarus.
"The purpose of this exercise is to train all necessary elements for unconditional protection of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and defense against any aggression towards the Union State," Putin said. In his words, up to 247 ships, including surface vessels, submarines, and support vessels, are involved in the large-scale joint exercises.
“Zapad-2025” kicked off on Friday and will conclude on Tuesday. The drills are expected to showcase Russia’s nuclear forces, launches of Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles and operations related to Russia's Oreshnik intermediate-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile, which has been used against Ukraine.
Russia’s display of firepower has raised fears in the West amid mounting tensions after Russian drones on Wednesday violated Poland’s air space, which marked the largest incursion into a NATO airspace since the start of full-fledged invasion of Ukraine three years ago. Russia dismissed these charges, with the Kremlin stating that Russia’s incursion was not deliberate. Romania was the second NATO country whose airspace was breached by Russia in the same week.
The drills have stirred unrest particularly in NATO members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania that border Belarus to the west. In response to “Zapad-2025”, Poland closed its border and airspace with Belarus this week and deployed 40,000 troops as a precautious measure. It’s noteworthy that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 came days after joint exercises with Belarus.
