MINSK. March 30 (Interfax) - Russian Ambassador in Minsk Alexander Surikov has called stupid the opinion of certain experts that some Russian troops may remain in Belarus after the West 2017 drills.
"This is absurd," Surikov told a press conference in Minsk on Thursday.
"These are ordinary biannual army exercises. They are held in turn in the territory of Russia and Belarus. Now it is Belarus' turn," the diplomat said, adding "Such exercises have been held before."
The ambassador described the West's reaction to the drills as paradoxical. "They are okay with [NATO drills] held near our borders, but say that our [drills] are not okay. Russian planes flying along the border [of NATO countries] are bad, while flights of NATO planes are good," he said.
Russia and Belarus will conduct joint strategic exercises, West 2017, on September 14-20, 2017. Russia will assign about 3,000 troops and almost 280 pieces of hardware for the exercises hosted by Belarus, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said.