Russia and Belarus set to hold joint military drill in September
Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month that a Russian military build-up in Belarus could set the stage for a potential attack on Nato members.
Russia and Belarus will hold a joint military exercise in September as part of efforts by the two neighbours to expand their military ties amid the fighting in Ukraine, officials said.
The Zapad, or West, 2025 drill will involve over 13,000 troops, said Valery Revenko, a Belarusian defence official.
He added that observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a top trans-Atlantic security and rights group, will be invited to monitor the drills.
Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for more than 30 years and has relied on Kremlin subsidies and support, allowed Russia to use his country’s territory to send troops into neighbouring Ukraine in 2022 and to host some of its tactical nuclear weapons.
Russian troops rolled into Ukraine from Belarus on February 24 2022, after a joint drill with the Belarusian army.
Ukraine and Belarus share a 1,084-kilometre (672-mile) border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month that a Russian military build-up in Belarus, which borders Nato members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, could set the stage for a potential attack.
Russia has repeatedly denied allegations that it could attack Nato members.
Mr Revenko said that Belarus is open for mutual military inspections with Poland 80 kilometres (50 miles) deep into each other’s territory — something he said would signal Poland’s intention to pursue “good neighbourly ties”.
“If Poland rejects or ignores such action, we will have a different opinion,” Mr Revenko said.
The US and the European Union have imposed sweeping sanctions on Belarus’ over its massive crackdown on protests following the 2020 presidential election and Mr Lukashenko’s move to allow Russia to use his country’s territory to send troops into Ukraine.
In December, Mr Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty giving security guarantees to Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally, including the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons to help repel any aggression.
At the time, Mr Lukashenko asked Mr Putin to deploy more advanced weapons in Belarus, including the nuclear-capable Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile that Russia used for the first time in November against Ukraine.
Mr Putin responded that Oreshnik missiles could be deployed to Belarus in the second half of 2025, adding that they will remain under Russian control but Moscow will allow Minsk to select the targets.
The signing followed Moscow’s revision of its nuclear doctrine, which for the first time placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella amid the tensions with the West over the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia has not disclosed how many tactical nuclear weapons it has deployed to Belarus, but Mr Lukashenko said in December that his country currently has several dozen of them.
The deployment extends Russia’s capability to target several Nato allies in Eastern and Central Europe.
