Yesterday at 20:05
Due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the scope of the Russian-Belarusian military exercises Zapad-2025 was smaller than in previous years.
This was reported in a review by British intelligence.
The review states that compared to Russia’s previous military exercises, Zapad-2025 likely involved “fewer ground forces and armored vehicles due to Russia’s significant involvement in the illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
“Putin’s claim that more than 100,000 servicemen took part in the exercises is likely not consistent with the actual scale of the drills,” the review says.
According to British intelligence estimates, no more than 10,000 Russian ground troops were involved in Zapad-2025 on Russian territory, while in Belarus around 6,000 Belarusian and Russian servicemen took part.
Earlier, Estonian intelligence reported on the difficulties faced by Russian troops during the Zapad exercises.
It should be recalled that the joint Russian-Belarusian drills caused concern in countries bordering Russia.
In particular, Poland completely closed its border with Belarus on the evening of September 11, a decision that had been made even before the incident with falling Russian drones. In addition, Poland and Latvia restricted flights over parts of their territories near the Belarusian border.
