Russian troops danger for Belarus — NATO

 

“The meeting with representatives of the Russian defense ministry was fruitful and useful, but there is no trust,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg after the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council. And it is not only about the annexation of Crimea and support of the pro-Russian militants in Donbass and the Kremlin’s actions in Syria.

NATO fearing Russian-Belarusian West-2017 exercises?

“Judging by the experience of the previous exercise, we have every reason to believe that there will be used far more military personnel than officially declared. Therefore, we urge Russia to adhere to the Vienna Document and allow inspections for the purpose of transparency and monitoring of the exercise,” said Jens Stoltenberg.

The Belarusian part of the exercise will involve about 3,000 Russian troops. More than 4,000 transport wagons will be needed to bring them to the site and later take them back together with equipment. This is less than was needed in the most large-scale joint military exercises of 2009, when the maneuvers involved more than 10,000 troops, but in 2009, there were no war in Donbass, and Moscow had not yet annexed part of the neighboring state.

How real is the danger of the exercise for Belarus?

Majority of the Belarusian democratic forces believe that the threat that Russian troops will return home after the end of the exercise is real. This possibility was stressed by the defense agencies of Ukraine and the Baltic countries. This scenario is not welcomed by either them or Minsk.

Fears of the NATO countries are understandable, given the actions of Russia in recent years, said the expert. After all, during the previous exercise, their scope was eventually exceeded.

At the same time the possibility of occupation or even of the fact that the Russians “linger” in Belarus is very small. Despite this, Minskers we interviewed about the West-2017 drill predominantly spoke out against it.

However, the organizers of the exercise obviously do not care about the opinion of Belarusian citizens on the issue.

Usevalad Shlykau, Belsat, photo: Vitaly Timkiv / TASS / Forum

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