Minsk/Moscow. January 18. INTERFAX-Russia and Belarus will hold a strategic exercise "West-2021" on September 10-16, the maneuvers will take place on the territory of the two countries, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said on Monday.
"It is planned that Zapad-2021 will be held for seven days - from September 10 to 16-under the leadership of the chiefs of the general staffs of the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation," the report says following the report of Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin to President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
The Ministry of Defense of Belarus reported that the basis of the exercises "is one of the options for a gradual escalation of the military-political situation around the conditional countries."
"At the suggestion of the Russian side, the exercise is planned on the territory of the two states on a single operational and strategic background. This will allow us to simultaneously work out the issues of preparing the use of the regional grouping of troops of Belarus and Russia, and the issues of conducting army operations," the report says.
It notes that during the maneuvers, it is planned to work out new ways of joint actions of consolidated assault units in highly urbanized areas, evaluate the effectiveness of new and modernized models of weapons and military equipment, and borrow the combat experience of Russian officers.
"The joint strategic exercise invariably reflects the strong allied relations and the unity of views of the defense departments of Belarus and Russia on ensuring the military security of the Union State," the Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Last week, Commander of the Air Force and Air Defense Forces of Belarus Igor Golub said that Belarus plans to conclude a contract with Russia for the supply of long-range air defense systems S-400 " Triumph "and short-range air defense systems"Pantsir-S".
The regional Russian-Belarusian grouping of troops has been functioning since 1999.
In March 2017, Andrei Ravkov, as the Minister of Defense of Belarus, stated that the regional group of troops includes the armed forces of Belarus and the 1st tank Army of the Western Military District of Russia.
Russia and Belarus have a single regional air defense system.
Since 1995, two Russian military facilities have been located in Belarus - the 43rd communications center of the Russian Navy "Vileyka "and the Volga radar station, which operates as part of the missile attack warning system.
In October 2020, at a meeting of the joint board of the military departments of Russia and Belarus, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced new security threats due to the actions of NATO.
"The situation remains unsettled on the western borders of the Union State, where NATO continues to increase its forward presence. In the current military-political situation in the region, as well as new challenges and threats, primarily from international terrorism, the Russian Defense Ministry considers ensuring the military security of the Union State among its priorities, " the Russian Defense Minister said at the time.