Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff: 5,8 Thousand Russian Soldiers Remained In Belarus After West-2017 Drills

Russian military entered the joint Russian-Belarusian military teams.

5.8 thousand servicemen of the Russian Federation stayed in Belarus after the end of the West-2017 military exercises. The head of Verification Department of the General staff of VSU Andrew Gudz announced this during a briefing on October 24, Ukrinform reports.

According to Gudz, a group of 12,000 Belarusian-Russian militaries, 5,800 of which were representatives of Russia, was established on the territory of Belarus.

International inspection confirmed that the Russian military stayed in Belarus.

The chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Viktor Muzhenko stated that Russia did not withdraw all its military units from Belarus after the West-2017 exercises. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation denies this statement.

Military exercises with the participation of Russian troops took place in Belarus from September 14 to September 20. On September 21, Russia began to withdraw equipment from the country.

The countries of the European Union, NATO and Ukraine expressed their concern about the maneuvers

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov said that the Russian military drilled the conventional massive nuclear missile strike during the exercises.