Joint Russian and Belarusian military exercise, claimed to have 100.000 participating troops, may only have been as little as 6000, reports danish national news

by Technical_Ostrich_47

15 comments

  1. Translated:

    Russia and Belarus have held their joint exercise, Zapad, for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
    The last time it took place was in 2021, and then some of the forces never returned home, because the exercise was the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
    From the Polish side, there were watchful eyes on the exercise this time, and after a group of drones entered Polish airspace, Poland closed the border with Belarus.
    40,000 Polish soldiers were sent on their own exercise close to the border with Belarus.
    But according to the Russian president, who was present during the exercise wearing military uniform, it was solely about defense.

    “The aim of the exercise is to practice all the necessary elements to unconditionally protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity and protect the union between Russia and Belarus against any aggressor,” the Russian president said.
    Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko has also emphasized that the exercise did not threaten anyone.
    “We will in no way threaten anyone. And if someone needs to justify their position to those living in neighboring countries, then that is their problem,” Lukashenko said.

    Smaller and not close to the border with NATO

    Although the exercise has now been held again, it is significantly smaller than in 2021.
    The Russian media outlet Kommersant writes that 100,000 soldiers have participated in the exercise, which is halving the claimed number of participants back in 2021.
    But according to Jesper Hein Olsen, military analyst at the Danish Defense Academy, the actual number of soldiers involved in the exercise has been of a completely different order of magnitude:

    – Much from open source indicates that there were significantly fewer than 100,000, perhaps as few as 6-8,000 men, says Jesper Hein Olsen.
    According to Kommersant, the exercise took place at 41 different training areas spread across Belarus and Russia – including Kaliningrad.
    Claus Mathiesen, an associate professor at the Danish Defence Academy, notes that these are not areas that directly border NATO.
    – It has probably been with a desire not to further exacerbate tensions that they have chosen to place the exercises in Belarus more eastern, including in Barysaw, says Claus Mathiesen.

    One of the missiles the exercise focused on is the relatively newly developed Oreshnik missile. But otherwise, it is not yet known exactly what scenarios the exercise has gone through, says Claus Mathiesen.
    “We need information from the intelligence services to really know that,” he says.
    In the midst of a fierce confrontation between Russia and NATO, however, there has been a certain desire to show hospitality from the Russian and Belarusian sides. At least towards some NATO countries. The USA, Hungary and Turkey were among those invited to send observers.
    Claus Mathiesen sees this as an attempt to create trust and transparency.
    Polish and Lithuanian exercises in response

    However, there is nothing that the neighboring country has necessarily taken for granted.
    While Zapad-2025 has been underway, there have also been military exercises in Poland and Lithuania, and Poland has chosen to close the border – including train crossings – to Belarus.
    A decision that Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, explained as being a matter of national security.

  3. Honestly doesn’t that show terrible NATO intelligence? NATO was so scared of 6000 men?

  4. I mean, there were NATO observers (USA and someone else). Just f ask them, why speculate

  5. They don’t have 100k and the 6 k were mostly Belarusian. Pathetic! Russia is a mouse with a megaphone 📢 📣

  7. If half of what Putin says were true, Ukraine would have been defeated by now. Hahaha

  8. They don’t actually have a surplus of trained soldiers now. I’m starting to hope for them to actually try and attack nato only to be roflstopmped and dealt with once and for all. 

  9. The only surprise for me is the time it took for our western media to get that. 

  10. 5,957 Belarusians and 43 Russian reserves, using Belarusian equipment with 120 second hand Ukrainian stolen bicycles.

  12. Did they use inflatable troops now? That would explain a decline in russia’s adult shops industry.

  15. russia being shown to be a lying piece of shit? we’ve already known this..

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