The military maneuvers known as Zapad, Russian for "west," are expected to take place from Sept. 14 to Sept. 20 in Belarus, the Baltic Sea, western Russia and Russia's enclave Kaliningrad, all of which surround three critical NATO allies – Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.
Russian officials told NATO that the military exercises would be smaller than anticipated, involving fewer than 13,000 troops. But, with Russian civilian officials and security personnel expected to be a part of the contingency plans as well, the actual number is expected to range from 60,000 to 100,000 troops. The Russian troops' maneuvers, as well as the revived First Guards Tank Army participating in them, have a rich history in Russia's military, dating back to offensives against Germany during World War II and the invasion of Czechoslovakia during Prague Spring in 1968 (when on Aug 21 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops paid a little visit to Prague. -r)
The exercises in Belarus mark the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union that a single command has had so much concentrated offensive power, the New York Time reports. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-08-01/russia-sending-up-to-100-000-troops-to-border-of-nato-territory-as-fears-rise
.....................................................................................................
No comments:
Post a Comment