The joint Russian-Belarusian war game ‘West-2017’ is alarming due to the simulated attacks against the NATO Alliance, Lithuania’s Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis says.
According to him, the biggest problem is that the large-scale exercise has poor transparency.
“To put it mildly, we are not comfortable with simulating attacks against the so-called high-potential countries, i.e. the NATO Alliance,” Karoblis told TV station LRT.
He believes that offensives on Poland and the Baltic states are drilled in the course of joint military exercises.
“This is not a defense (simulation), it seems to be a simulated offensive on NATO, in particular on the Baltic states, and, apparently, Poland, which is confirmed by intelligence reports – ours and the allies’, ” he said.
Over 13,000 troops may take part in the ‘West-2017’, which is to be held in Belarus on September 14-20. “The war game scenario is likely to include an armed conflict with NATO,” the Lithuanian intelligence services state.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite believes that the ‘West-2017’ demonstrates the preparation of Belarus and Russia to the war with the West.
In late April, Estonia’s Defense Minister suggested that Moscow could use the large-scale military exercise in Belarus to house several thousand soldiers there. Moreover, Ukraine’s Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council Oleksandr Turchynov expressed concern that the war game might become the preparation for an assault against Ukraine.
