Scroll down for Scott Ritter\u2019s assessment of the drills significance.<\/p>\n
Over a vast rolling field, Russian and Belarusian fighter jets drew fire as tanks shattered mock wooden houses and the buzz of drones filled the air. Moments later, troops stormed in, hoisting the allies\u2019 flags above a \u201cliberated\u201d piece of land consumed by flames.<\/p>\n
The military drills, part of the major Zapad-2025 military exercises and staged at the Borisov training ground in Belarus, were billed as a defensive response to a notional western invasion \u2013 in effect Nato. Zapa<\/em>, which is the Russian word for \u201cwest\u201d, refers to military drills focused on the western theatre.<\/p>\n Yet the display of firepower, witnessed during a rare western media visit to the authoritarian state, has stirred unease in European capitals amid mounting regional tensions and fears that Moscow is probing<\/a> Nato\u2019s defences after Russian drones entered Poland and Romania last week.<\/p>\n \u201cThe exercises, in our view, are unprecedentedly open. We pose no threat to anyone and stand for building a constructive and pragmatic dialogue,\u201d Valery Revenko, a senior Belarusian military official, told reporters after the drills.<\/p>\n