The southern part of the Baltic Sea will host certain episodes of the Zapad 2021 Russian-Belarusian strategic exercise, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
“The main tactical games will take place at the Pravdinsky and Khmelevka ranges in the Kaliningrad region, the Strugi Krasnye range in the Pskov region, the Mulino range in the Nizhny Novgorod region, and the Luzhsky range in the Leningrad region in the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as in the southern part of the Baltic Sea and at the Obuz-Lesnovsky and Brestsky ranges of the Belarusian Armed Forces in the Brest region,” the Defense Ministry said.
The Zapad 2021 exercise will be held between September 9 and September 15, the ministry said.
The exercise will open at the Mulino range in the Nizhny Novgorod region and the Obuz-Lesnovsky range in the Brest region of Belarus on September 9, it said.
“Between September 11 and September 14, Russian and Belarusian troops will take part in tactical games, including live-fire drills by tanks, infantry combat vehicles, artillery systems, missile systems, and small arms, while tactical and army aviation crews will perform flights and fire air-launched weapons,” the ministry said.
“Meanwhile, Baltic Fleet crews will go to sea and will fire artillery and missile systems at airborne and seaborne targets, marines will land on the beach, Airborne Forces servicemen will be airdropped with their hardware, and air defense missile crews will fire missiles,” it said.
The exercise will involve contingents from the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as well as other friendly nations, such as Armenia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.
