MINSK, 5 August (BelTA) – Nearly 400 military personnel and over 30 combat vehicles will be deployed to Russia for the sake of participation in the Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad 2021, BelTA learned from Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, First Deputy Defense Minister of Belarus Viktor Gulevich during a media briefing on 5 August.
According to Viktor Gulevich, in Belarus the troops will use the 230th combined-arms exercise area Obuz-Lesnovsky, the 174th Air Force and Air Defense exercise area Domanovsky, the 210th aviation exercise area Ruzhansky, and the exercise area Brestsky as part of the exercise. In turn, nearly 400 military personnel and over 30 combat vehicles will be deployed to Russia for the duration of the exercise.
The exercise will include two stages. During the first stage as long as 72 hours the joint command will practice control over subordinate units in the course of repulsing an aggression and will practice the organization of interaction. During the second stage as long as 96 hours control over troops (forces) in the course of finalizing the destruction of the enemy followed by the recovery of the lost position will be practiced. In Belarus a number of training missions will be accomplished: the creation of a force grouping within a short period of time using army units, which remain combat-ready in time of peace, boast high mobility, and are capable of autonomous actions; control over actions of Air Force and Air Defense units in the course of repulsing the enemy's aerial strikes; the testing of new defensive actions; the landing of tactical aerial assaults.
The Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad 2021 is a scheduled one and represents the final stage in the joint training of Belarusian and Russian armed forces this year. It is primarily designed to increase training levels of the regional military group, which is meant to ensure security in the Eastern Europe region.
In line with the training plan the exercise will take place in Belarus and nine army exercise areas in Russia (Kirillovsky, Strugi Krasnyye, Mulino, Pogonovo, Khmelevka, Pravdinsky, Dobrovolsky, Dorogobuzh, Volsky) on 10-16 September.
The concept of the exercise is purely defensive. The concept was developed taking into account modern approaches to the deployment of forces (troops) based on the experience of recent armed conflicts, combat training events, and troops deployment forms and methods, which have been worked out by the Belarusian army and the Russian one.
