MINSK. Jan 10 (Interfax) - Belarus has informed Western states about the upcoming Belarusian-Russian exercise Zapad (West) 2025, the Belarusian defense minister's assistant for international military cooperation Valery Revenko said.
"Zapad 2025 is planned as one of the most large-scale exercises in recent years. It will involve more than 13,000 troops. We have met our obligation and informed all participating states of the Vienna Document that we will host this exercise," the Belarusian Defense Ministry's press service quoted Revenko as saying on Friday.
"We are planning to invite delegations from our allies, friends and partners to the exercise. We are considering who will be invited to each stage. We are positively disposed towards certain members of the European Union and NATO," he said.
Representatives of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) may observe the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) exercises Search, Interaction and Echelon in 2025, Revenko said.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said in October 2024 that Russia and Belarus would hold the Zapad joint exercise in 2025 based on current threats to their security and the situation in the special military operation zone.
"We intend to keep a high intensity of combat training. The Zapad joint strategic exercise will be its culmination next year. The scenario of training missions for the troops is based on current threats to Russia and Belarus, as well as the current situation, including that in the special military operation zone," Belousov said on October 23, after a joint board meeting of the Russian and Belarusian defense ministries in Minsk.