Polish Defence Ministry concerned about Lukashenka and Russia’s manoeuvres

Large-scale drills not far from Polish border is a clear warning sign to Poland from the Kremlin, stated Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich in an interview to “Gazeta Wyborcza”.

“We are following them and carrying out monitoring of “Zapad 2009” exercises in Belarus,” the minister added.

The military manoeuvres, called ‘West 2009’, taking place in Belarus, are the biggest joint military training operation by Russian and Belarusian armies since the establishment of the Union State of Russia and Belarus in 1997, “Gazeta Wyborcza” noted. According to the mock scenario, NATO forces are attacking from the west, and a counterattack of the “union state” must follow.

Military exercises of such a size haven’t been held for years in Poland or other Central European countries that are the NATO members.

Representatives from Poland will be able to watch the military training on a VIP day on 29 September. Russian and Belarusian soldiers will also be observed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Defence Minister Bogdan Klich told “Gazeta Wyborcza” that Russian and Belarusian military training on such a large scale near the Polish border is a clear warning sign from the Kremlin. Klich said that Russia’s actions are ambiguous – on the one hand, Russian politicians are calling for open dialogue with Poland and, on the other hand, Russia organizes large-scale military exercises, which are a clear demonstration of its power.

We remind that Zapad-2009 drills involve more than 12000 service personnel and some hundreds of units of military equipment. 6000 troops from Russia entered Belarus, which has never happened before.

The exercise will use 103 airborne devices (including 63 aircrafts and 40 helicopters), around 470 armoured fighting vehicles, 228 tanks, 234 self-propelled and towed artillery units, mortars and multiple launch rocket systems.

One of the aims of the exercises is armed conflicts liquidation. However, the democratic forces of Belarus are convinced that the exercises pose a threat to independence of Belarus.