Russian drone herd He jumps into Poland with what officials there consider to be deliberate provocation.
NATO responds Strengthen the alliance’s air defense On the east side of that.
Moscow, as warns the West, introduces the traditional and nuclear forces of the country in its long-standing practice with Belarus For sending foreign troops To Ukraine.
These events have all been held since the US Russia Summit Conference in Alaska failed to bring peace to Ukraine, but they only raised tensions in Eastern Europe.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it came just days after co-pilot with Belarus. The latest Sweep drillcalled “Zapad 2025” or “West 2025”, and is worried that NATO members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania will make Belarus the western border.
Operations include nuclear-responsive bombers, thousands of troops, and hundreds of combat vehicles simulating a joint response to enemy attacks. It includes officials with plans for the use of nuclear weapons and options including new ones in Russia. Oleshnik, a ballistic missile in the middle range.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Latte pointed out that referring to Moscow’s polar missiles, and that Spain or the UK had shattered the notion that they were safer than their Russian Estonian or Lithuanian neighbors.
“In this alliance of 32 countries, let us agree that we all live on the eastern side,” he said in Brussels.
Memorial day of Russia’s nuclear weapons policy
One year ago this month, Putin outlined a Moscow’s nuclear doctrine revised; It should be noted that the state’s traditional attack on Russia, supported by nuclear power, is considered a joint attack on his country. The threat was intended to discourage the West from allowing Ukraine to attack Russia. Long Range Weapons It appears to significantly lower the threshold for the likelihood of Russian nuclear weapon use.
The doctrine also places Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella. Russia, which says it has deployed battlefield nuclear weapons to Belarus, Station Oreshnik missile Even later this year.
The Zapad 2025 exercise comes as President Donald Trump demands a peace deal and Russia’s three and a half years of war in Ukraine drags on August 15, despite meetings with Putin in Alaska.
September 10th, 2 days before the operation begins, about 20 Russian drone I flew into Poland airspace. Moscow denied targeting officials in Poland and Belarus, claiming that the drone had been off course after it was stuck in Ukraine, but Polish Prime Minister Donald Tass said “we’ve all approached an open conflict since World War II.”
Latte branded Moscow’s actions as “reckless” as they announced a new “East Sentry” initiative to strengthen air defenses for regional alliances. He also said, in addition to Poland, “drones are violating the airspace of Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.”
Putin’s Threat of Oleshnik
When Russia first used Oleshnik against Ukraine in November 2024, Putin warned the West that it could then be used against Kiev’s allies that allowed them to attack within Russia with long-range missiles.
Putin boasted that multiple Oreshnik warheads were unable to plunge and intercept at speeds up to Mach 10, and that several people used in traditional strikes could be as devastating as a nuclear attack. Russian state media boasted that it would only take 11 minutes for Oleshnik to reach the Polish air base and 17 minutes for him to reach the NATO headquarters in Brussels. There is no way to know if it is carrying a nuclear warhead or a traditional warhead before hitting the target.
Russia has begun production of Oleshnik, Putin said last month that he has reaffirmed plans to roll out to Belarus later this year. Before training this month, Belarusian Defense Minister Victor Krenin said it would involve a “plan for use” of nuclear weapons and Oleshnik missiles. It was not immediately clear whether Oreshniks was actually unfolding in war games.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has released a video of nuclear bombers on training missions as part of a drill spread from Belarus, adjacent to NATO members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.
Reconstruction of the “nuclear fortress” of the Soviet era
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko In December, he said there are dozens of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in his country. Unlike nuclear-type intercontinental ballistic missiles that can erase an entire city, less powerful tactical weapons have short distances for use against troops on the battlefield.
The revamped Russian nuclear doctrine states that Moscow can use nuclear weapons with traditional weapons that “threaten the integrity of their sovereignty and/or territorial integrity” over Russia and Belarus “in the case of an invasion.”
Russian and Belarus officials have issued contradictory statements about who controls the weapons. When their deployment was first announced, Lukashenko said Belarus would be in charge, but the Russian army emphasized that it would maintain control.
Signed Security agreement In December, along with Lukashenko, Putin said that Moscow would allow Minsk to choose his target, even if Russia controls Oleshnik. He pointed out that if missiles are used against targets close to Belarus, they can carry a rather heavy payload.
Deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus allows Russian aircraft and missiles to reach potential Ukraine targets if Moscow decides to use them. It also expands Russia’s ability to target several NATO allies in Eastern and Central Europe.
“A weapon deployment, which is closer to the western border, will send signals, even if there is no plan to use it,” said Andrei Baklitsky, a senior researcher at the UN Military Institute.
Minsk-based military analyst Alexander Aresin said the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus would turn it into a “balcony approaching the west,” threatening the Baltic family, Poland and Ukraine.
The planned deployment of Oreshnik threatens everything in Europe, he said, when Belarus was a forward base for Soviet nuclear weapons aimed at Europe.
In the Cold War, Belarus hosted more than half of the Soviet weapons of mid-range missiles under its deep forest cover. Such land weapons that can be reached between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310 and 3,400 miles) were banned under the 1987 Medium-range Nuclear Treaty, which ended in 2019.
“Belarus served as a nuclear fortress during the Soviet era,” said Aresin.
The Soviet Union has built around 100 significantly enhanced storage sites for Belarusian nuclear weapons. Some of them have been improved to preserve Russian nuclear weapons, he said.
“If they restore dozens of storage sites and actually hold only two or three nuclear warheads, potential enemies will have to guess where they are,” added Aresin.
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Yulas Karmanau of Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.
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