From the Baltic to the Barents sea, Russian and Belarusian troops, tanks and aircraft are massing in battle formation. On the Nato side of the border, Poland has deployed 40,000 troops in readiness to repel a Russian attack.
The prelude to World War Three? No. This week’s military deployments are part of an annual scheduled military exercise known as Zapad-25 designed to war-game Moscow and Minsk’s response to a Nato invasion.
Rather than punish Belarus for its close alliance with Vladimir Putin, the US on Thursday announced that it was lifting major sanctions on Putin’s closest ally. John Coale, Donald Trump’s Presidential Special Representative, arrived in Minsk bearing a friendly letter to President Alexander Lukashenko, Europe’s longest-serving leader who has been in power since 1994.
From the Baltic to the Barents sea, Russian and Belarusian troops, tanks and aircraft are massing in battle formation. On the Nato side of the border, Poland has deployed 40,000 troops in readiness to repel a Russian attack.
The prelude to World War Three? No. This week’s military deployments are part of an annual scheduled military exercise known as Zapad-25 designed to war-game Moscow and Minsk’s response to a Nato invasion.
Rather than punish Belarus for its close alliance with Vladimir Putin, the US on Thursday announced that it was lifting major sanctions on Putin’s closest ally. John Coale, Donald Trump’s Presidential Special Representative, arrived in Minsk bearing a friendly letter to President Alexander Lukashenko, Europe’s longest-serving leader who has been in power since 1994.