Kolia and his dad meet with Putin at drills (Video)

Lukashenka took his youngest son to Zapad 2013 military exercises.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenka and President of Russia Vladimir Putin are observing the final phase of the army exercise West 2013 at the firing range Gozhsky.

Upon arriving at the firing range the Belarusian head of state went to an auxiliary command post of the regional military force. The President was informed about the scheme that had been developed and the options the Belarusian and Russian military units could use for the sake of strategic dissuasion of an aggression against the Union State of Belarus and Russia. At the auxiliary command post of the 20th army of the Western Military District of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation the Belarus President was made familiar with the general procedure for using the army as part of the regional military force during a rising threat of an aggression. Alexander Lukashenka was also informed about the tasks that the Russian part of the regional military force has to take care of in association with units of the Belarusian army, border service agencies, and territorial troops during the special operation of the regional military force.

After Vladimir Putin arrived at the firing range the two presidents went to an observation post to watch how the combat operations will turn out. Today the firing range is used to practice interaction between motorized infantry and mobile units of the Belarusian and Russian armies, territorial troops, internal troops of the Interior Ministry and the Emergencies Ministry of Belarus as they carry out missions involving the protection of the state border, search for and elimination of recon and diversion groups and illegal armed units.

Several tactical episodes are being played out at the firing range.

The exercise represents an opportunity to test, verify the feasibility of military theory products in practice. New armaments and materiel of Belarusian make are used for the exercise, including a computerized remote-control observation and firing system ADUNOK and the Belarusian automated tactical soldier-level control system. The latter is designed to improve informational interaction of an individual serviceman in a unit and improve his mobility thanks to modern materials used for protective gear.

The Belarusian-Russian strategic army exercise Zapad 2013 [West 2013] takes place on 20-26 September. Zapad 2013 is a defensive exercise meant to confirm Belarus’ policy aimed at building up the regional security and adherence to allied commitments with Russia. The exercise involved two phases. As the concept of the present exercise was worked out, it focused on modern approaches to using troops in view of the experience of armed conflicts of recent years, combat training measures, and troops application forms and methods that have been worked out by the Belarusian and Russian armies. The concept of the exercise envisages a crisis situation and an unfolding conflict. The warring sides are located within real borders of Belarus and three adjacent oblasts of the Russian Federation.