Putin Watches Zapad-2021 Exercise

On Monday, Vladimir Putin arrived in the Nizhny Novgorod region to observe the main stage of the Zapad-2021 Russian-Belarusian joint strategic drills at the Mulino testing ground.

During the main stage of the exercises, Russian army units, jointly with military contingents from Armenia, Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia will drill joint actions to repel an enemy offensive, to conduct flexible defense, to deliver targeted fire attack and crush the enemy.

The drills are held on a vast territory spanning from the Baltic coastline in the westernmost Kaliningrad region to firing ranges in the Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod regions in central European Russia. The exercises involve about 200,000 troops, more than 80 warplanes and helicopters, up to 760 combat vehicles, including 290 tanks, more than 240 missile systems and mortars, and up to 15 warships. Of them, 12,800 troops, including up to 2,500 Russian servicemen, more than 30 warplanes and helicopters, up to 350 combat vehicles, including 140 tanks and up to 110 missile systems will be involved in the drills on Belarus’ territory.

150 international observers are monitoring the progress of the maneuvers.

At the exercise, Putin was shown combat robots in action. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu briefed the head of state on this new type of military hardware.