Belarus and Russia are preparing for the “West-2025” exercises: they started with the training of the joint command

On the morning of January 14, the Ministry of Defense of Belarus announced the holding of the staff training of the Joint Command of the regional group of troops. As noted in the message, the staff training is part of a set of activities to prepare for the joint strategic exercises “West-2025”, which will be held in Belarus this year.

“From January 14 to 16, representatives of the armed forces of Belarus and Russia will work out one of the options for the use of groups of troops (forces) during joint combat operations at stationary command posts,” – reads the message of the military department of Belarus.

The regional grouping of the troops of Belarus and Russia was officially formed on the territory of Belarus in October 2022 in connection with the “escalation on the western borders of the Union state”. This happened against the background of the war that Russia is waging against Ukraine. The details of the group’s financing and the order of its activities are unknown.

Earlier, Oleksandr Lukashenko stated that the number of the group would be approximately 9,000 people. However, there was no clarification of this information or evidence.

In December 2024, it was announced the creation of three training centers for the joint training of military personnel of both countries – one in Grodno Oblast (Belarus) and two in Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad Oblasts (Russia).

In 2022, following the joint exercise “Allied Resolve” held in Belarus, Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.