Russia and Belarus have concluded five days of joint military exercises, codenamed Zapad (West), in what they describe as a test of combat readiness, a show of force that has unnerved surrounding nations. Dressed in military attire, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with top military officials on Tuesday in Russia’s Nizhny Novogorod region, where some of the drills took place.
Putin’s Surprising Visit and Troop Numbers During a surprise visit to the exercises, parts of which were conducted close to NATO borders, Putin announced that 100,000 troops were participating in the joint Zapad (West) drills with Belarus. Earlier, Minsk had stated that only 7,000 troops were taking part in the Belarusian stage of the exercises, which were observed by US army representatives.
“Today we are conducting the final part of the Zapad 2025 strategic exercise,” said Putin, who was wearing a military uniform. Russian news agencies, citing the Kremlin, reported that soldiers from India, Iran, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Congo, and Mali also participated in the exercise, which had previously been advertised as a joint Russian-Belarusian drill.
Drills and Regional Tensions Belarus’s chief of staff stated that the exercises also featured Russia’s Oreshnik hypersonic missile, which was test-fired last year during the war with Ukraine. The Zapad maneuvers have put NATO’s eastern members on high alert, particularly after Russian drones were downed in Poland last week, prompting Warsaw to close its border with Belarus.
Putin added that the drills were designed to simulate “repelling potential aggression against the Union State,” referring to the allied entity of Russia and Belarus. According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the drills simulated the occupation of the Suwalki corridor, a strategically vital area in Poland. Warsaw announced it would station approximately 40,000 troops near the Belarus border for the duration of the drills.
Russia also announced that on Sunday, it had exercised the launch of its latest Zirkon supersonic naval missile from a frigate in the Barents Sea. The Belarusian army reported that nuclear weapons deployment planning was also drilled during the Zapad exercise. The 2021 edition of Zapad, staged just months before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, involved around 200,000 troops.
