MINSK, 8 October (BelTA) – While talking to reporters after delivering a report to the head of state, State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Aleksandr Volfovich summed up results of the Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad 2025 and mentioned the exercise’s “bonus” effect that nobody had anticipated initially, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Volfovich stressed that all the matters prioritized for the duration of the exercise had been addressed and the goals had been reached. In particular, those are matters relating to control, creation of a force grouping to defend the Union State of Belarus and Russia, the management of efforts to repulse an aerial strike of the adversary, the organization of defensive action, and the restoration of the situation at the state border of the Union State.
Apart from that, Belarusian military personnel studied the experience the Russian colleagues had acquired during Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. “The time requires the introduction of new methods, new forms of warfare, different placement of command posts, slightly different control amid a powerful radioelectronic environment. This experience was very useful for us. We’ve studied it,” the state secretary said. In his words, the key thing the exercise has demonstrated is a very high level of training of military personnel of Belarus and Russia.
But the exercise has also produced a slightly surprising effect that nobody had counted on initially. “I am talking about the dismantling of the fakes formulated by the West about this exercise. They claimed that we were amassing forces definitely for attacking Europe, for capturing some territories and borders. Which we a priori don’t need and the president talks about it all the time,” the official said. “Our land is sufficient for us. We love it, appreciate it, and of course we will protect it by all possible means and methods. And we know how to do it.”
The state secretary pointed out that the exercise was a planned combat training event and all the steps practiced during the exercise were purely defensive. “Contrary to what the collective West reproached us for: they claimed we were creating a force grouping for the sake of aggression and were creating a threat for our western neighbors. Absolutely not,” Aleksandr Volfovich stated.
Once the organization of the Zapad 2025 exercise was declared, “we saw the hysterics launched by the West,” the state secretary stated. For instance, an additional series of military exercises were immediately planned and carried out. Called Iron Defender 2025, it included about 10-13 exercises of varying scale in the territory of Poland, the Baltic states, and other European states. While the number of military personnel deployed for the Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad 2025 was close to 7,000, the Iron Defender 2025 exercises concentrated 34,000-36,000 military personnel and an appropriate amount of hardware. Apart from that, the Quadriga 2025 exercise involving over 8,000 military personnel was authorized.
“The force grouping created in the territory of Western countries to counterbalance our force grouping and in response to our scheduled exercise exceeded 40,000 military personnel. I guess it is slightly less than the number of personnel in Belarus’ Armed Forces. Who was the threat then?” the state secretary asked a rhetoric question.
In his words, the rhetoric of many politicians in Western countries, particularly the leadership of Poland, the Baltic states, and Germany gives solid reasons for concern. They talk about a threat from the East, about militarization, about bigger defense spending.
“Americans told them to spend about 5% of the GDP. ‘Got it! Will comply! We will spend 5% of the GDP’. Including 3.5% purely on defense. Does the rhetoric of the leadership of the collective West address any matters related to the social and economic development of these countries, to the improvement of the wellbeing of the citizens, to the construction of civilian infrastructure facilities such as schools, kindergartens, hospitals, and other things? Nothing of the sort! Militarization all the way,” Aleksandr Volfovich pointed out.
He cited another example relating to Poland: the East Shield program, as part of which a militarist zone 50km wide is being set up along Belarus’ border. Local residents are resettled over there, personal land plots are taken away, and forests are cut down. A huge amount of money is getting spent on something other than what the life of citizens requires.
Continuing the line of thought, the state secretary drew attention to the completely different policy pursued by the Belarusian head of state. Aleksandr Lukashenko is primarily concerned about matters of economy, matters of improving people’s welfare, about social and economic development. Naturally, the protection of national interests and matters of military security are always on the president’s radar. Just like they were today when the state secretary delivered the report to the president.
Belarus traditionally demonstrates openness and pursues a friendly policy. The country did it during preparations for and during the actual Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad 2025. A large-scale campaign was organized to inform the population in Belarus and neighbors in the West about what would happen. All kinds of briefings were organized. Goals and the scale of the exercise, personnel numbers were explained. Military attachés from various countries, observers from NATO states were invited. However, few accepted the invitation. The fact eloquently demonstrates who is who in the situation around the Zapad 2025 exercise, the state secretary is convinced.
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