Russian and Belarusian armies are going to hold Zapad-2025 joint exercises in September. The trainings will include drills on the planned deployment of nuclear weapons and Russian-made, intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik missile, Belarus’s Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said on 13 August.
His comments were made two days before the meeting of U.S President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, to discuss a possible deal to end the full-scale war in Ukraine. , which Moscow partially launched Belarusian territory in February 2022.
Khrenin reported to journalists in Minsk that Belarusians would work with their Russian counterparts on how to use the Oreshnik and nuclear weapons during the military exercises to be held from 12-16 September.
"This is an important element of our strategic deterrence. As the head of state demands, we must be prepared for anything," Khrenin reported to Belta, a Belarusian state news agency.
"We see the situation on our western and northern borders and cannot calmly watch the militarisation and military activity. We demonstrate our openness and peacefulness, but we must always keep our powder dry", he added.
Earlier this month, Putin announced that the Oreshnik (Hazel Tree) had gone into consecutive production and had been delivered to the military forces. This weapon was first used by Moscow against Ukraine last November, targeting the city of Dnipro.
Last week, Kremlin declared that it would no longer place any limits on where it deploys intermediate-range missiles which can carry nuclear warheads, revoking the previous moratorium.
The upcoming “Zapad-2025” (West 2025) military exercises have raised security concerns in neighbouring Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. However, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed the idea that Minsk would utilise the exercises to attack its neighbours. He considered it as a “complete nonsense."
Belarusian defence officials have stated that upcoming joint NATO drills will be held in Poland. It will involve at least 34,000 troops, as evidence of growing militarisation along Belarus' borders.
"We need to watch them very closely (which is what we will be doing) and respond accordingly," Khrenin said on 13 August, referring to the NATO drills.
"If they show any aggression toward the Republic of Belarus, we have the means to respond", he added.
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