Russia to march two armies in Belarus in military exercises in September

It was supposed that the number of Russian soldiers in Belarus won’t be large.

Two whole Russian armies are going to take part in strategic military exercises Zapad 2009, head of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Nikolay Makarov told, RIA Novosti reports.

He noted the whole armies would be marched in Belarus.

It should be reminded that wide military exercises Zapad 2009 are scheduled for September 8–29.

The forth coming Belarusian-Russian Zapad 2009 exercises are peculiar for their scale and the plans to improve command system of the regional force grouping.

It should be noticed that in February 2009 Russia was supposed to involve only 5000 Russian soldiers.

It is expected that the coming exercises will attract the largest ever amount of forces and equipment from the joint Belarusian-Russian force grouping. It was planned that about 13.000 soldiers will take part in them. Russian will offer land arms and air forces (including aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, and radio-technical troops).