Pentagon confirms that US officers observed drills in Belarus
Photo: Sean Parnell, Pentagon spokesperson (flickr by Secretary of War Public Affairs)
American servicemen observed the joint Russia-Belarus military exercises Zapad-2025. They were present there on the Distinguished Visitor Day, states Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, according to Reuters.
"The US Embassy in Minsk, Belarus, received an invitation for our Defense Attache to attend the ZAPAD-2025 military exercise in Belarus as part of the Distinguished Visitor (DV) Day, and we accepted the invitation in light of recent productive bilateral engagements between our countries," Parnell said.
According to him, attending the exercises on such a Distinguished Visitor Day is a common practice among the armed forces.
Reuters notes that the presence of US officers at the exercises, less than a week after neighboring Poland shot down Russian drones that entered its airspace, was the latest signal that Washington seeks to engage with Belarus.
Western analysts suggest that Trump may be trying to distance Belarus from Russia — a strategy many consider unrealistic — or leverage its close ties with Moscow to promote a deal to end the war against Ukraine.
Observation of the drills
On September 15, it became known that US military personnel visited the training ground where the Russia-Belarus joint exercises Zapad-2025 were taking place.
US servicemen were greeted by Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin. The Americans thanked him for the invitation to the exercises.
The Russia-Belarus exercises took place from September 12 to 16.
