Zapad-2025 over: Russian troops begin withdrawing from Belarus
Photo: Russian troops leave Belarusian training grounds after the Zapad-2025 exercises (Getty Images)
The Russian military began to leave the training grounds in Belarus, where the active phase of the Zapad-2025 exercises took place from 12 to 16 September, a spokesman of the State Border Guard Service, Andriy Demchenko, said in a comment to RBC-Ukraine.
"Russian military, and this time their number was not as large as, for example, in 2021, began to leave the exercise locations on the territory of the Republic of Belarus," said Demchenko to the media outlet.
According to the spokesman of the State Border Guard Service, the movement of Russian troops is being monitored.
"I cannot say now that they have already completely left Belarus, but I hope that they will move in the correct direction," noted Demchenko.
He emphasized that during this year’s Russian-Belarusian exercises, no activity toward the border with Ukraine was observed.
Russian-Belarusian exercises Zapad-2025
The active phase of the Zapad-2025 exercises just ended, which attracted significant attention from the international community. The final stage took place at the training ground in Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia.
According to reports from Russian propagandists, it ended with the “defeat of a conditional enemy and reaching the line of the conditional state border”. Observing the maneuvers was Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who this time appeared in military uniform.
ISW analysts believe that such an appearance of the Russian leader is not accidental. Apparently, it was supposed to become a “signal” to NATO countries, which the Kremlin has been constantly threatening lately.
We add that in the context of the exercises, Poland and Lithuania closed the airspace near the border with Belarus. Meanwhile, the MFA of Ukraine appealed to the Belarusian authorities with a call to avoid provocations and not to move troops close to the Ukrainian border during the maneuvers.
Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Kyrylo Budanov, warned that, along with Zapad-2025, a large information campaign will unfold, including from the side of Russia. He emphasized that these exercises are rather directed at demonstrating force before Europe, especially the Baltic countries, than against Ukraine.
For the record, Moscow expanded the geography of the exercises also to the Kaliningrad region, which borders Poland to the south, and with Lithuania to the north and east.
