Russia and Belarus will hold a joint military exercise in September, officials said Thursday, part of efforts by the two neighbors and allies to expand their military ties amid the fighting in Ukraine.
The Zapad, or West, 2025 drill will involve over 13,000 troops, said Valery Revenko, a Belarusian defense official. He added that observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation, a top trans-Atlantic security and rights group, will be invited to monitor the drills.
Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for over 30 years and has relied on Kremlin subsidies and support, allowed Russia to use his country’s territory to send troops into neighboring Ukraine in 2022 and to host some of its tactical nuclear weapons.
