Zapad 2017 (, , lit. West 2017) was a joint strategic military exercise of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and Belarus (the Union State) that formally began on 14 September 2017 and ended on 20 September 2017, in Belarus as well as in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and Russia's other north-western areas in the Western Military District. According to the information made public by the Defence Ministry of Belarus prior to the exercise, fewer than 13,000 personnel of the Union State were to take part in the military maneuvers, a number that was not supposed to trigger mandatory formal notification and invitation of observers under the OSCE's Vienna Document.Russia’s biggest war game in Europe since the cold war alarms NATO The Economist, 10 August 2017.
Prior to the exercise, Western military analysts and officials cited the total number of Russian troops, security personnel and civilian officials to be involved in the broader war-games as being up to 100,000, which would make them Russia's largest since the Cold War.Russia Plans Huge Zapad 2017 Military Exercises With Belarus NBC NEWS, 2 August 2017. However, Western analysis after the drills put the troops number estimate significantly closer to the officially announced figures,Mathieu Boulègue. Five Things to Know About the Zapad-2017 Military Exercise Chatham House, 25 September 2017.Mary Dejevsky. Russia was the target of Nato's own fake news The Independent, 22 September 2017Russia just finished the Zapad military exercises that freaked out NATO — Here's what we know Business Insider, 25 September 2017. with Thomas Möller, a Swedish officer observing the exercise, reporting only 12,400 troops present, slightly less than the Belarus claim of 12,700. Since 2016, concerns had been voiced by a number of NATO and Ukrainian officials over Russia's suspected ulterior motives and objectives in connection with the exercise.What are Russia's Zapad war games? DW, 14 July 2017.Will Russia occupy Belarus in 2017? 29 November 2016.
Advance information about the drills and invitation of monitors Belarus is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Eurasian military alliance of some of the former USSR republics led by Russia;Why Russia's Military Alliance Is Not the Next NATO Stratfor, 10 January 2017. Belarus chairs the bloc in 2017.Представители оборонных ведомств ОДКБ обсудят в Минске применение КСОР RIA Novosti, 23 August 2017.Председатель Совета коллективной безопасности ОДКБ, Президент Республики Беларусь Александр Лукашенко на встрече с секретарями советов безопасности назвал шесть важнейших задач ОДКБ на современном этапе CSTO web site, 15 June 2017 . The Belarusian–Russian strategic Zapad and operative Shchit Soyuza () exercises are scheduled events that are meant to be held on alternate years, in Belarus and Russia respectively, pursuant to the agreement reached by presidents of Russia and Belarus in September 2009.Российско-белорусские учения "Щит Союза". Досье TASS, 15 September 2015 .
Previous post-Soviet Zapad exercises were Zapad 1999, Zapad 2009, and Zapad 2013.
The plan of the exercise was approved by Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko on 20 March 2017: it envisaged two stages and its theme was defined as "the use of groupings of troops (forces) in the interests of ensuring the military security of the Union State".Доклад замысла совместного стратегического учения вооруженных сил Беларуси и России "Запад-2017" 20 March 2017 .СМИ узнали, чему будут посвящены учения России и Белоруссии "Запад-2017" RIA Novosti, 20 March 2017 . The number of troops to be involved, according to Belarusian Defense Minister Andrei Ravkov, would not to exceed the threshold stipulated by the 2011 Vienna Document – no more than 13,000 personnel; geographically, it would span from multiple locations in Belarus to the Kola Peninsula within Russia's Arctic Circle.Details of Belarusian-Russian army exercise Zapad 2017 unveiled Belarusian Telegraph Agency, 20 March 2017. It was expected that some units of Russia's 1st Guards Tank Army, which was reconstituted in 2014, as well as 25 Russian aircraft would take part in the exercise in Belarus.Личный состав, военная техника и представители Запада - Равков рассказал о подробностях учения "Запад-2017" Belarusian Telegraph Agency, 20 March 2017.Российско-белорусские учения "Запад-2017" пройдут 14-20 сентября Interfax, 20 March 2017 . According to Western media reports in July 2017, the tank army's task would be to establish a forward command post in western Belarus, and to hold exercises in training areas near the city of Brest. On 13 July 2017, the NATO-Russia Council convened in Brussels, in the course of which the two sides briefed each other on their upcoming drills: Zapad 2017 and NATO's Exercise Trident Javelin 2017.Press point by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg following the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council nato.int, 13 July 2013.Russia tells NATO to stop 'demonising' planned war games Reuters, 13 July 2017. At the end of August 2017, Russian defence ministry said that the exercise would rehearse an anti-terrorist and purely defensive scenario that is not specific to any particular region and "may emerge in any location of the world".Russia's Military Says War Games Are Training to Fight Terrorism, Not Invade Europe Newsweek, 29 August 2017. The plan of the exercise envisaged a conflict between the alliance of Russia and Belarus and the coalition of fictional Lubenia, Vesbaria, and Veyshnoria, the latter within the borders of Belarus.Belarus at 'war' with imaginary country of Veyshnoria BBC, 31 August 2017.Fictional rogue state becomes online sensation in Belarus 31 August 2017.
Observers from NATO were invited to Zapad-2017 by both Belarus and Russia. The Belarusian foreign ministry said in mid-July 2017 that they had notified all the OSCE countries and intended to invite observers from a number of international organisations as well as from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Estonia (NATO contact state in Belarus in 2017Estonia takes over NATO contact embassy functions in Belarus Belta.by, 15 December 2016.), Sweden, and Norway.МИД: мы не обязаны приглашать наблюдателей на учения "Запад-2017", но сделаем это Also, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko invited the U.S. delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. On 12 July 2017, in Vienna, Major-General Pavel Muraveiko, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, gave a detailed briefing on Zapad-2017 to the participants of the OSCE conference.
In mid-August, Lithuania said that it would send its military observers to the Zapad 2017 drills, in Belarus and Leningrad Oblast. Latvia, who previously, on 14 August, said it was still awaiting the relevant invitation from Russia,Премьер Латвии ждет от России приглашения наблюдать за учениями "Запад-2017" TASS, 14 August 2017. said it would send 3 observers, including its military attaché in Moscow, who was invited as an observer by Moscow.Латвия направит трех наблюдателей на белорусско-российские учения "Запад-2017" TASS, 17 August 2017. On 22 August, the Belarusian defence ministry said that observers from the UN, OSCE, NATO, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and International Committee of the Red Cross as well as from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Sweden, and Norway had been invited to Zapad 2017.
On 24 August, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the military alliance would send two experts to attend the war games, after Minsk extended invitation; he said that Belarus had invited NATO to attend five distinguished visitors' days during the drills, and Russia had invited NATO to one such visitors' day; Stoltenberg said attending distinguished visitors' days did not constitute real monitoring and that NATO was seeking "a more thorough way of observing" Zapad 2017.NATO chief says 2 experts to attend Russia-Belarus war games WP/AP, 24 August 2017. The following day, the Russian foreign ministry issued a statement that dismissed NATO's complaints about alleged lack of transparency as ungrounded; the statement reiterated that the exercise would involve up to 12,700 servicepersons, namely 7,200 from the armed forces of Belarus and 5,500 from the Russian forces, including 3,000 persons on the territory of Belarus.МИД РФ в ответ на требование НАТО о прозрачности назвал число участников учений "Запад-2017" NEWSru, 25 August 2017.Комментарий Департамента информации и печати МИД России относительно соблюдения мер транспарентности в ходе подготовки к учениям «Запад-2017» mid.ru, 25.08.17.
On the eve of the exercise, the Belarusian foreign ministry said it had received an "unprecedented number" of accreditation requests from foreign news media (about 270).Беларусь оперативно и открыто информирует общественность об учении "Запад-2017" - Минобороны Belta.by, 13 September 2017.
The Philippine Army sent a ″high-level delegation to observe the final stage″ of Zapad 2017 in Luzhsky Testing Range in Leningrad Oblast, which was presented by the Philippine Ambassador to Russia Carlos D. Sorreta as ″just the beginning of what we expect to be a robust army-to-army engagement in the years to come."PH ARMY SENDS OBSERVER DELEGATION TO THE 2017 RUSSIA-BELARUS MILITARY EXERCISE “ZAPAD-2017” The Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, 26 September 2017.
Expert opinions and speculations prior to the drills Months prior to the Zapad 2017 exercise, NATO officials and Western military analysts began to speculate about the true number of troops to be involved as well as Russia's possible objectives other than those publicly announced. Such speculations were based on what was perceived as Russia's record of unannounced snap military exercises, and use of drills as a cover for military incursions,Rachel Ansley. Zapad: A Windo into Russia's Military MindPeter Walker. Vladimir Putin calls snap Russia air-raid drill involving 45,000 troops and 150 aircraft The Independent, 9 February 2017.U.S. general calls on Russia to allow observers at military drills Reuters, 12 August 2016.Col. Tomasz K. Kowalik and Dominik P. Jankowski The dangerous tool of Russian military exercises CEPA, 9 May 2017. as well as a development of Russia's military posture in the country's western regions undertaken in 2016 that suggested plans for a protracted large-scale war.Stephen Blank. Is Russia Getting Ready to Invade Ukraine Again? Atlantic Council, 30 March 2017. Western analysts speculated in July 2017 that the total number of Russian troops, security personnel and civilian officials to be involved in the broader war-games will range from 60,000 to 100,000, which would make them Russia's largest since the Cold War.
The theories mainly focused on Russia's putative schemes to attack Ukraine and/or reinforce Russia's military presence in Belarus with a view to further threatening Poland and Lithuania,Russia may pose threat to Poland with war games in Belarus: expert. Radio Poland, 26 January 2017.За учениями «Запад-2017» будут наблюдать международные наблюдатели VOA, 11 August 2017.Why Russia is foolish not to invite NATO observers to its war games: Instead, the biggest exercises in Europe since the cold war will be conducted amid secrecy and mistrust The Economist, 10 August 2017. or the Suwałki Gap (the Lithuania–Poland border area) that is perceived by NATO strategists as vulnerable because of the geography.NATO war game defends Baltic weak spot for first time Reuters, 18 June 2017.Russia's military exercises: Could they turn into war? CNN, 15 August 2017. It was also suggested that the Union State created by Russia and Belarus in 1999 could be used by Russia as a legal cover to absorb Belarus.Large-scale Russian military exercises in Belarus feared to be set-up for Putin's next conquest CNBC, 19 August 2017.