Russia and Belarus hold war games at NATO border

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Europe

Russia and Belarus begin a major joint military exercise along the European Union's eastern flank on Thursday, leaving several NATO members concerned. Named Zapad-2017 (West-2017), the maneuvers have been deemed a "show of strength" and are scheduled to last until September 20.

Moscow says the drills are "purely defensive" and involve 12,700 troops. They are testing their firepower against an imaginary foe close to borders with Poland and the Baltic states. But NATO claims Russia has tried to keep it in the dark and is massively under-reporting the scale of the exercises, which some of the alliance's eastern members insist could see more than 100,000 servicemen take part.

The war games come with tensions between Russia and NATO at their highest since the Cold War due to Crimea breaking away from Ukraine and rejoining Russia in 2014 and the US-led alliance bolstering its forces in Eastern Europe.

A Russian military helicopter takes part in a military exercise called Kavkaz (the Caucasus) 2016 at the coast of the Black Sea in Crimea, September 9, 2016. /AFP Photo

Belarus, Moscow's closest ex-Soviet ally, has said the games are a role play involving a conflict with a fictional rebel region backed by neighboring European nations. Russia says they will simulate assaults by "extremist groups" trying to carry out "terrorist attacks."

On Monday, Ukraine launched its own annual joint military exercises with the US and a host of other NATO countries. Meanwhile, non-aligned Sweden has mobilized 19,000 soldiers for its biggest drills in 20 years which also include units from across Scandinavia and the US.

'Russia is testing us'

"This is designed to provoke us, it's designed to test our defenses and that is why we have to be strong," Britain's Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC last week. "Russia is testing us, and testing us now at every opportunity. We see a more aggressive Russia; we have to deal with that."

Moscow has dismissed fears over the drills – the latest in a series of annual exercises that rotate around the vast country – as fueled by the "myth about the so-called 'Russian threat'."

Russia and the former Soviet Union have held a number of "West" military drills targeting NATO during the past decades, as both sides try to gain the upper hand in the strategically vital region.

NATO paratroopers drop out of a US Air Force Hercules during the "Swift Response 17" joint airborn military exercise at Bezmer airfield near the village of Bezmer, Bulgaria, July 18, 2017. /AFP Photo

The former Soviet Union held "West" military drills in 1972, 1977, 1981, 1983 and 1984. The West-1981 drills were the largest maneuvers staged by the USSR, with more than 100,000 troops taking part. The goal was to test how Soviet forces could defeat NATO forces in three days without using nuclear weapons.

In 1999, Russia held the first "West" exercise after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, in response to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Russian warplanes simulated launching cruise missiles that could carry nuclear weapons to NATO countries, deeply unnerving the West.

Source(s): AFP