Latvian defence minister: Russia rehearsed in Belarus attack on Baltic states

An attack on the Baltic states was simulated during the Russian-Belarusian drills and this has political grounds, Imants Liegis said.

The attack scenario was represented by minister of defence of Latvia Imants Liegis at a discussion “Russian Safety Policy: Should be Changes be Expected?” He said that according to the exercise plan, Russian Kaliningrad was besieged and the army simulated attack on NATO member states – Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia – to release the city, Telegraf.lv reports.

Liegis acknowledged the drills scenario had political grounds. Latvia planned to organize similar manoeuvres on its territory next year, but according to the minister, this exercise is not among the priorities because of lack of finance.

The defence minister also emphasized that Latvia’s security is at the appropriate level in spite of the crisis.

As www.charter97.org reported earlier, unveiling of one of the aims of the Russian-Belarusian training made a sensation in Belarus.

On September 29, the “joint Russian-Belarusian grouping defeated a manoeuvre aggressor” at the Obuz-Lesnovski training range and launched a counteroffensive. According to Minsk military analyst Alyaksandr Alesin, under the scenario of the exercise simulating a conflict with NATO, the aim of the counterattack was to break through to “blockaded Kaliningrad” and establish the Baltic lodgement.

Alesin reminded that Russian strategists call Belarus a noose around the Baltic states’ neck. The Belarusian-Russian military “game” simulates a hypothetical conflict with NATO.

We remind that Zapad-2009 drills involve more than 12000 service personnel and some hundreds of units of military equipment. 6000 troops from Russia entered Belarus, which has never happened before.

The exercise involved 103 airborne devices (including 63 aircrafts and 40 helicopters), around 470 armoured fighting vehicles, 228 tanks, 234 self-propelled and towed artillery units, mortars and multiple launch rocket systems.