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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
US observes Belarus-Russia war games as NATO allies feel the heat of
Moscow’s incursions
By Frederik Pleitgen, CNN
Updated:
12:30 PM EDT, Tue September 16, 2025
Source: CNN
As US’s NATO allies in Europe are feeling the pressure from Moscow,
putting them on edge in an already-febrile atmosphere with Russian
drones entering Poland’s airspace, Russia and its main ally Belarus
are conducting massive military drills right on the alliance’s
doorstep.
The exercises, called Zapad-2025, are taking place at training grounds
in Russia and Belarus, which both border Ukraine, as well as in the
waters of the Baltic and Barents Seas.
A delegation of US military officers, as well as representatives of two
other NATO members, Turkey and Hungary, observed the drills, joined by
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov.
Air Force Lt. Col. Bryan Shoupe was one of two US officers who were
seen meeting with Belarusian military officials in video shared by
Minsk. In the video Shoupe could be heard thanking the Belarusian
officials in Russian for the invitation.
The U.S. Embassy in Minsk received an invitation for the US defense
attache to attend the exercise as part of the Distinguished Visitor
(DV) Day and accepted the invitation “in light of recent productive
bilateral engagements between our countries,” Pentagon spokesman Sean
Parnell said in a statement to CNN.
“Attending exercise DV days is a common practice between militaries,
and the U.S. Defense Attache is part of a larger group of international
military attendees. Due to timing, the incoming Defense Attache was
able to attend in conjunction with the outgoing Attache,” the
statement said and added, “This is not the first instance of U.S.
military officials attending a ZAPAD DV Day.”
US President Donald Trump, who initially to the Russian drone
incursions into Poland with bemusement, saying “What’s with Russia
violating Poland’s airspace with drones?” suggested last week that
they could have been a mistake.
In another indication of developing ties between Minsk and Washington,
Belarus released after senior Trump administration official John Coale
met with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and delivered a letter
and a gift of cufflinks featuring an image of the White House from
Trump and first lady Melania Trump.
In response to the prisoner release, a Trump administration official
said the US would ease some sanctions on Belarus’ state-run airline,
Belavia.
Just days after more than a dozen Russian drones penetrated , causing
NATO jets to scramble and shoot them down, said another drone crossed
its borders at the weekend.
While the US’ European allies have called for a stronger response
from Washington to the drone incursions, Trump appears reluctant to
further confront the Kremlin. In a Fox interview Friday, Trump said his
patience with Putin was “sort of running out and running out fast.”
As the drills began at a massive compound north of Minsk, Belarusian
Defense Ministry claimed that NATO was panicking in the face of Russian
and Belarusian firepower.
“It’s a big mistake from NATO,” Valery Revenko, a senior
Belarusian general, told CNN on the training ground, pointing to the
fact that Poland itself has stationed a large number of troops near the
border with Belarus for the duration of the drills.
“Where do you think there is more personnel? Probably over there. Why
are 40,000 (the reported number of Polish soldiers deployed to the
region) afraid of 6,800 (Russian and Belarusian troops)? This is a good
question.”
‘Modern combat tactics’
The Belarusian military loaded us onto buses and took us deep inside
the Borisovsky training facility. started with a massive bang when
several Russian fighter jets came streaking in at a low level, dropping
bombs on mock targets. The two armies then blasted the training area
called a “polygon,” ending with a final massive assault.
Moscow has used these exercises to showcase its modernized nuclear
capabilities. While the Russians claim fewer than 13,000 troops are
taking part in this year’s drills – much fewer than in the past –
it’s the types of weapons used that has European leaders worried. For
months the Russians have been outfitting Belarus with tactical nuclear
weapons, recently announcing they’d placed their powerful new
Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missiles there. This comes after Russia
said it had placed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus late last year.
Russian warships were shown firing Zircon hypersonic missiles in the
Barents Sea to the north of Russia, while Moscow’s jets flew missions
over North Western Russia and Belarus carrying Khinzhal air-launched
ballistic missiles, which the Russians have already used in combat
against Ukraine.
“We managed to systematically plan the issues of using weapons of
more powerful destruction in this exercise,” Belarus’s defense
minister Viktor Khrenin said of the firepower on display, which also
showcased Russia’s changing military tactics as it adapted to the
realities of the conflict in Ukraine. Aside from heavy tanks and
artillery firing salvos leading to big explosions and heavy smoke on
the training area, infantry units also charged forward on motorcycles,
quad bikes or on foot under the cover of drones.
“The Europeans are obstructing progress. They refuse to acknowledge
the fundamental origins of this crisis, thereby blocking any path to
addressing these very causes. Nonetheless, Russia remains open and
prepared for dialogue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said again on
Monday.
And while Russia says it remains prepared for dialogue it also showed
it has a devastating capability to keep fighting for a long time.
As the training ended, dozens of Russian tanks and armored vehicles
emerged from their dugouts, all flying the Russian flag and all
equipped with cages and netting around their turrets for protection
again drone attacks – what the Russians call “modern combat
tactics.”
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