Belarus’ defense minister: Minsk, Moscow to scale down Zapad-2025

May 28, Pozirk. Minsk and Moscow have decided to nearly half the number of troops to be involved in the upcoming joint Zapad-2025 military exercise and move major maneuvers away from Belarus’ western borders, said Belarusian Defense Minister Viktar Chrenin, the ministry’s press office reports.

He made this statement yesterday in Kyrgyzstan’s Bishkek which hosted a regular defense ministers meeting of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The move should reaffirm Minsk’s commitment to dialogue, compromise and reduction of tensions, demonstrating “the true peace-loving position” of Belarus to allies and partners around the world, Chrenin noted, adding that Minsk does not expect a “constructive response.”

The announcement came two weeks after Alaksandar Łukašenka described Zapad-2025 as a defensive drill, stressing that Belarus is not going “to attack anyone, as some people there [in the West] think.”

The exercise’s plan was approved “back in April” with the number of participants slashed by almost half, Valeryj Ravienka in charge of Belarus’ international military cooperation department said on X today, commenting on Chrenin’s announcement.

However, neither specified the exact updated number of troops.

More than 13,000 soldiers were originally expected to participate in the maneuvers scheduled for September in Belarus and synchronized with a CSTO exercise. Minsk reportedly notified all the Vienna Document participating states of plans to host it, its timeframe and troops.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly warned that Moscow may use the exercise as a pretext to mass troops in Belarus for an attack on a European Union country.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said earlier this year that the scale of Zapad exercises has always been far larger than declared, urging NATO to respond symmetrically to an increase in the number of Russian and Belarusian troops during the drill.

Minsk has been studying the reaction of the West to the drill, Ravienka noted in his recent X posts. Since Poland plans to hold a large-scale exercise in response to Zapad-2025, Belarus will organize “a company tactical exercise” at a training range near Hrodna, a Belarusian regional center near the shared border with Poland, he noted.

Also read: Belarus has no nukes, drills with Russia target Suwałki – Ukraine