MINSK, 5 August (BelTA) – Hype surrounding the Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad has already become kind of a tradition, 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.
Viktor Gulevich said: “Despite the unwavering periodicity of the army exercises held in Belarus' territory together with Russia every four years and Belarus' openness with regard to the coverage of the exercise the hype surrounding the exercise has already become kind of a tradition. Our partners from the south as well as western neighbors stand out from the crowd. And I get a strong feeling of deja vu. Information noise initiated by so-called analysts and experts who claim without proof that the joint exercise is only a pretense for deploying Russian troops and launching an aggression against third countries cannot cause nothing but pity and sarcastic smiles. We saw all that in 2013 and 2017. Every time their predictions fail. Nobody could find Russian troops in Belarus after a Zapad exercise. It is hard to find a black cat in a dark room particularly when there is no cat there. I don't doubt that this year a number of homegrown analysts will once again start counting railway cars carrying Russian troops, will go an extra mile to imagine a threat from the east, thus raising tensions in the already complicated military and political situation in the region.”
The General Staff chief emphasized that 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. I would like to note that Zapad 2021 is a defensive exercise, which reaffirms Belarus' policy in favor of stronger regional security and dedication to commitments of the union with the Russian Federation. I hope there will be fewer groundless speculations after today's meeting and they will not hype up the international community now or after the exercise is over.”
Belarus is a sovereign state, a full member of the international community, and always unwaveringly honors all the commitments within the framework of international and regional agreements for the sake of enhancing trust and strengthening positive stability in military and political relations. “Guided by the 2011 Vienna Document [on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures], back in late 2020 our country officially notified the OSCE states about the forthcoming strategic army exercise Zapad 2021. Today's meeting represents a vivid example of the openness and transparency of this exercise. Apart from that, we've sent out invitations to watch the exercise to representatives of the military diplomatic corps of foreign countries, who are accredited as part of embassies of their countries in Belarus. Representatives of mass media will be accredited according to the established procedure to watch and cover the active phase of the exercise,” the official added.
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 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.
