The Russian army has announced a major exercise for this weekend. This is happening amid great tensions with the West. According to the Russian defense ministry, President Putin will oversee the exercise. Exercise launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and cruise missiles take place.
According to the ministry, the exercise had already been planned some time ago. According to the Russians, the intention is to check the preparedness of the military and the reliability of (nuclear) weapons. The Kremlin says this exercise will not lead to further escalating tensions with the West. According to the Russians, it is a routine training.
The announcement of the exercise comes after US President Biden warned yesterday that the Russians could invade Ukraine within days. There are said to be about 150,000 Russian soldiers along the border with Ukraine.
Last night became known that US Secretary of State Blinken will meet his Russian counterpart Lavrov next week to discuss the crisis in Ukraine. The Americans do, however, make it a condition that Russia does not invade Ukraine in the meantime.
Possibly longer in Belarus
A field of tension in the crisis is the presence of Russian military personnel in Belarus. They are there for a military exercise that was scheduled to end on Sunday, but Belarusian President Lukashenko says he is still in talks with Putin about a possible longer stay in the country. He is visiting Putin in Moscow today.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Russians will leave Belarus after the exercises. Since the start of the military exercise on February 10, Western leaders have been uneasy about the Russian presence in Belarus. Both Minsk and Moscow have said that the Russian military – according to NATO the largest deployment in Belarus since the end of the Cold War – will leave when the exercises are over. Lukashenko now says that the “armed forces will remain as long as necessary”. What this means is unclear.
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