Upcoming September, russia and Belarus plan to hold the large-scale Zapad-2025 military exercises. The first echelon of russian troops has already arrived in Belarus as part of the preparations.
The very fact of such joint drills poses a direct or indirect threat not only to Ukraine, but to the entire West. Yet Zapad-2025 is not the only exercise on their schedule — Moscow and Minsk plan six joint drills in September alone, Defence24 reports.
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Three of these will be under the CSTO framework: Vzaimodeystviye-2025, to train rapid reaction forces; Poisk-2025, to drill reconnaissance units; and Eskadron-2025, focused on logistics units.
Although russia officially describes Zapad as "cyclical and defensive," in reality these maneuvers carry significant geopolitical weight. They serve to test the effectiveness of command structures, inter-branch coordination, and, most importantly, resource mobilization capacity.
Zapad-2025 will also include "new tactical techniques" for land battles, particularly those "based on the experience of modern conflicts." These include electronic warfare to disrupt enemy communications, revised mechanized unit tactics, and likely hybrid warfare operations.
Notably, Belarus under Lukashenko will conduct mobilization drills involving civilian authorities, especially in transport and communications. This reflects the deepening merger of Belarus into russia’s military command structure.
The West, and NATO in particular, has read the signal and evaluated this as a growing threat to Europe. In response, the Alliance has launched Steadfast Dart 2025 — its largest exercises in recent years.
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