MOSCOW. Sept 9 (Interfax) - The Zapad-2021 joint strategic exercise, which has begun on Thursday, has a defensive nature, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
"The opening ceremony of the Zapad-2021 joint strategic exercise of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus has taken place at the Mulino range in the Nizhny Novgorod region," the ministry said.
Russian State Secretary - Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said that the Zapad-2021 exercise "has a strictly defensive nature and aims to teach the troops how to conduct modern warfare and to raise the operative compatibility of military commands of forces of the allies and comradely states."
"The exercise of such a scale is unique from many angles. Its scale, participatory states, and the number of engaged troops and hardware demonstrate an increased significance of joint training of our armed forces," the ministry quoted Pankov as saying.
"Exercises conducted by a coalition of states help arrive at a common understanding on the training of forces, consolidate friendship, erase language barriers between our servicemen, and forge new joint traditions of combat brotherhood and military comradeship," he said.
The troops will be training at nine ranges in Russia, the Baltic Sea, and five ranges in Belarus between September 10 and 16.
The Zapad-2021 exercise, conducted in Russia and Belarus, will involve up to 200,000 troops, about 80 planes and helicopters, up to 760 pieces of military hardware, including 290 tanks, 240 cannons, rocket launchers, and mortars, and up to 15 ships.
The maximum number of training servicemen from units that fall under the Vienna Document 2011 will not exceed 6,400 in the Russian territory.