Khrenin: General Staffs of Belarus and Russia started preparations for Zapad 2025 exercises

Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin, the Belarusian Defence Minister, pointed out that the strategic co-operation between Belarus and Russia is going on with success in various areas.

“Our integration to ensure security of the Union State plays a key role here. In these trying times of the global standoff between the West and the East, we are going to maintain the level of co-operation we have achieved so far, to develop and expand it further for the benefit of our countries’ sovereignty and independence. Our military partnership is not just the foundation of stability for our countries: it’s an important strategic deterrence factor for the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. I have to point out our joint approaches to assessing challenges and threats, and common perspective held by us and our Russian partners. We are improving the operational preparedness on our territories, along with our military systems that are being tested during joint events, operational and combat exercises," he added.
 

Presently, our General Staffs started preparations for Zapad 2025 exercises set to become the key event for military command and troops training in 2025. The exercises will also set up conditions for further improvement of the existing military security system of the Union State.

Mr. Khrenin explained that exercises of such scale make it possible to test combat readiness of the regional contingent and their ability to efficiently perform joint tasks hands on.

“Military co-operation between Belarus and Russia brought excellent results this year. First of all, we were able to improve and develop our regional contingent and share experience related to the special military operation. The military engineering co-operation is also notable: the parties maintain support for each other when it comes to military hardware and weapons supplies. Joint personnel training is also going smoothly. Presently, 360 Belarusian officers from various branches of our Armed Forces are undergoing training in the Russian Federation. Great results have been achieved in many other areas, so it would be fitting to call operations of our defence ministries proactive and efficient. Today, at the cornerstone 40th meeting of our Collegium, we are going to share opinions and make decisions on key issues of our joint defence policy, and expansion of our military co-operation to benefit the Union State’s security,” concluded the Minister.