Nearly 100,000 Russian and Belarussian soldiers, sailors, and airmen are participating in major military drills that span half of Europe and include hundreds of aircraft, armoured vehicles, and even missile systems.
Zapad-2021 drills had begun in earnest, across 14 separate training grounds from the Baltic Sea to Central Russian cities like Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod.
The President of Russia Vladimir Putin arrived on a working visit to the Mulino training ground, where the main stage of the joint military exercises Zapad 2021 is taking place.
“During this stage, the military formations of the Russian military forces in cooperation with the military contingents of the armed forces of Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as personnel from India and Mongolia worked out the action of repelling the enemy’s offensive,” the video said.
Moscow’s military commanders insist that while the exercises involve large numbers of squadrons and military hardware, the quantity of troops involved in any one set of exercises does not exceed 6,400 people, in line with requirements under international law.
Forsided, 14.09.2021