MINSK, 12 Sep-RIA Novosti. Repelling the offensive of enemy troops and launching a counterattack were worked out on Sunday during the joint Belarusian-Russian military exercise "West-2021", Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said.
"Today, the issues of repelling the offensive of enemy troops, stabilizing the situation on the occupied defensive line and launching a counterattack were worked out – these are issues that were included in the first stage," Khrenin said in a comment published in the Telegram channel of the Belarusian Defense Ministry following the draw of a key episode of practical actions of troops within the first stage of the Zapad - 2021 exercises.
The Minister noted that on Sunday, the actions of the troops were played out according to a possible scenario for the development of the situation. "The General Staff has carried out a deep analytical work. All possible risks are embedded in the scenario and the legend of the exercises," he stressed.
The head of the Belarusian Defense Ministry drew attention to the work of the headquarters, command posts of the regional Belarusian-Russian grouping of troops, operational commands, and the tank army. "That's where the whole thought process of collecting and processing information, obtaining intelligence data, identifying targets for destruction, setting tasks goes. This cycle is very important for us, it is very important today to have prepared management bodies, " Khrenin stressed.
He also pointed out such a feature of the episode as the use of territorial troops. "By the way, 20 years ago we created the territorial defense, it was our decision and the President of the Republic of Belarus. And today we already have the fruits. We saw today: people who were called up three weeks ago and taken out of their comfort zone... in a short period of time, we have restored our skills and demonstrated our skills, " the minister stated.
He has so far refrained from evaluating the actions of the Belarusian troops, saying that "the commander – in-chief will give the main assessment at the end of the exercises, when the tactical groups will work out (tasks-ed.) both on fire damage and on tactical actions."
The practical phase of the Belarusian-Russian strategic exercises "West-2021" takes place from September 10 to 16 at nine training grounds in Russia and at five in Belarus. In total, up to 200,000 servicemen, about 80 aircraft and helicopters, up to 760 units of military equipment, including 290 tanks, 240 guns, multiple rocket launchers and mortars, as well as up to 15 ships will take part in the maneuvers. The purpose of the exercises is to check the level of readiness and ability of the military command bodies of the forces of Belarus and Russia to work together in solving the tasks of ensuring military security and territorial integrity of the Union State and their interaction during combat operations.
