In uniform

The main secret of the West-2017

August 15, 2017 Alexander Golts

Today, the first units of the Russian troops begin to arrive in Belarus, which should participate in the strategic maneuvers of the West 2017 strategic maneuvers. Meanwhile, in neighboring states there are more and more concerned voices. In Kyiv, they express fears that maneuvers can be used by Russia to concentrate troops for new aggression. And in NATO countries they are afraid that under the guise of teachings Moscow will transfer heavy equipment to Belarus, which will then not be taken out, but is stored at the advanced borders of the military confrontation with the North Atlantic alliance. The commander of the American Ground Forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, even stated that the West-2017 seemed to him a kind of “Trojan horse”: “They say:“ We simply conduct exercises ”, and then suddenly they will transfer all these people and forces in a different direction.”

The Russian military does not cease to certify that the total number of participants in the upcoming maneuvers will be very modest - about 13 thousand military personnel, and only about three thousand will be transferred to the neighboring republic. All this is fully consistent with the provisions of the Viennese document, the only preserved agreement that regulates military activity on the European continent. Therefore, they say in Moscow, all NATO fears are purely invented in nature and are dictated by the desire to once again slander Russia, completely inconsistent with military operations in the Donbass.

In fact, both the NATO and Ukrainian generals have some grounds for fears. It is appropriate to recall here that the Ukrainian crisis began on February 26, 2014 with a “sudden check” of Russian troops declared by Vladimir Putin. Under the cover of this “check” on the Ukrainian border, about 40 thousand troops were deployed. In the future, Moscow very cleverly manipulated the Viennese document requiring the mandatory presence of foreign observers if the number of troops involved exceeds 8 thousand participants. Russian strategists said that not one common, but several independent and not interconnected exercises are being carried out. Therefore, no one is obliged to attract foreign observers. Probably the same trick will be applied this time. Observers will be allowed to be present only on the Belarusian part of the maneuvers. Meanwhile, one of the Belarusian generals has already stated that the West-2017 will cover a huge space from the Kola Peninsula to the Kaliningrad region. As for the placement of heavy weapons in Belarus, there are grounds for fear. From the moment when the confrontation between Russia and NATO has acquired a military character, considerations of a military strategy become priority. In the case of hostilities, the priority of the Russian army is to break through Lithuania a corridor from Belarus to the Kaliningrad region. And for this, he explores in advance to place heavy weapons in Belarus. It is significant that Alexander Lukashenko, who has successfully converted the military alliance with Russia for many years into economic preferences, has been trying to limit defense cooperation today.

The most interesting in the upcoming maneuvers is how the units of those three divisions will be involved in them, the creation of which was reported on the western border with pomp at the end of 2015. It seems that foreign observers will not demonstrate them. And the carefully guarded secret here is most likely not at all high combat readings of shock formations. And low. In the Russian army, it is determined by the degree of staffing of the troops. As I already wrote, despite the fact that our generals regularly report the creation of new formations, the total number of armed forces is practically not growing. This means that the created divisions are unimportant, which means the sky. Therefore, NATO should not worry. This is the main secret of the West-2017 maneuvers ...


Photo: 1. World News - August 9, 2017/ Evgeny Sinitsyn/Zuma \ TASS
2. Before the end of the year, 17 flight-tactical and 28 tactical exercises are planned in the 6th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation 3. Military engineers of the Zhi preparation of landfills for the upcoming teaching "West -2017". The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation