Contents tagged with Russian military exercises

  • Lithuania urges Russia to cancel Zapad 2017 military exercises

    Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius urged Russia to cancel the planned Zapad 2017 large-scale military exercises in NATO’s eastern flank, DW.com reports.

    “We are concerned by the fact that Moscow has relocated 4,000 systems capable of carrying nuclear weaponry to Belarus, and at least 30,000 soldiers. This dangerous saber-rattling must stop,” Linkevičius said in an interview with Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland.

    According to him, the Russian figures of only 12,000 drill participants …

  • Ahead of Zapad-2017 military exercises Germany and France condemn Russia for 'strategy of intimidation'

    Germany and France have criticized the future joint Zapad-2017 military exercises by Russia and Belarus, saying that Moscow is trying to demonstrate its military strength near the border with the EU and NATO.

    "It is particularly important in this context that we reaffirm our presence in the face of...this demonstration the Russians are making, which is a strategy of intimidation," French Defense Minister Florence Parly said on September 7, as part of an informal meeting of the defense …

  • Russia begins command and staff exercises of the Black Sea Fleet

    On Wednesday September 6, the military and supply vessels of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet went out to sea to work on ship group control tasks as part of planned command and staff exercises.

    According to the press service of the Southern Military District of Russia’s Defense Ministry, during the first stage of the drills the soldiers practiced navigating ships behind mine-clearing equipment.

    “At the fleet’s combat training facilities, they are operating the frigate ‘Admiral Grigorovich’, the …

  • Russia begins large-scale military exercises in its Southern Military District including Crimea

    On Tuesday, September 5, large-scale military exercises involving missiles and artillery began on 19 different training grounds in the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation and the Crimea.  

    More than five thousand artillerymen of the Russian armed forces went to training grounds in the Crimea, Rostov, the Volgograd region, Krasnodar and Stavropol territories, Dagestan, North Ossetia, as well as to Russian military bases in Abkhazia, Armenia and South Ossetia. The artillery …

  • Ukraine strengthens its borders ahead of Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 military exercises

    The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) will intensify guarding the borders during the Zapad 2017 joint Russia-Belarus military exercise, as stated by Oleh Slobodyan, an assistant to the head of the SBGS.

    According to Slobodyan, Russian troops began to arrive in Belarus before the beginning of the exercise. Therefore, "it is necessary to control the situation."

    "We started command and staff exercises during which the border line was fortified in all directions without exception, …

  • Muzhenko: Russia’s Zapad-2017 military exercises threaten NATO

    The Zapad 2017 exercises have a broader context than it has been announced by Russia. They have the goal of preparing the Russian forces for offensive action, and are a threat both to NATO and to the states of the post-Soviet space, stated Viktor Muzhenko, Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as reported by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

    “We are considering various scenarios of enemy action, including offensive action,” he noted.

    According to …

  • Turchynov: With Zapad-2017 Russia wants to show that it is capable of waging a full-scale war in Europe

    The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksandr Turchynov, believes that the Russian Federation is using the large-scale Zapad-2017 exercises to demonstrate its ability to conduct a large-scale continental war in Europe.

    He expressed this opinion at a briefing in Novy Petrivtsy, where together with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov, he handed out keys to new apartments for National Guard employees, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

    "The Russian Federation, by …

  • Ukraine and Poland explore possible ways to respond to Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 exercises

    The Chiefs of the General Staffs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Polish Army have declared that they have studied possible threats from and ways of responding to the Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 exercises.

    "We have discussed the issue of the Zapad-2017 exercises. We considered possible threats related to these exercises, as well as ways of responding both by the Polish Army and by the Ukrainian Armed Forces," said the Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian …

  • Ahead of Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 exercises US sends 7 fighters jets to Lithuania

    Prior to the start of the Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 military exercises, the United States decided to strengthen the air police mission of the Baltic States by sending seven F-15C Eagle fighters. They landed at the Lithuanian Air Force base in Siauliai on Tuesday, reported the Lithuanian edition of Delfi, citing the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense.

    For the last two years, the mission from Lithuania had four allied fighters. About 140 soldiers from the U.S. base in Great Britain will …

  • Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces: Part of Russian troops may remain in Belarus after the joint Zapad-2017 exercises

    At a joint meeting of the Military Science Council of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Viktor Muzhenko, stated that judging by the actions of the Russians, part of the troops preparing to participate in the Russian-Belarusian exercises, Zapad 2017, could remain in Belarus after their completion.

    It is likely that after the completion of the exercise, part of these troops will remain in the …