Lithuania urges Russia to cancel Zapad 2017 military exercises
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius urged Russia to cancel the planned Zapad 2017 large-scale military exercises in NATO’s eastern flank, DW.com reports.
“We are concerned by the fact that Moscow has relocated 4,000 systems capable of carrying nuclear weaponry to Belarus, and at least 30,000 soldiers. This dangerous saber-rattling must stop,” Linkevičius said in an interview with Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland.
According to him, the Russian figures of only 12,000 drill participants are unlikely to be true.
“We need to be vigilant and prepared,” he stressed.
The Lithuanian Foreign Minister claimed that recently Russia has made an average of 10 covert flights per week over Baltic NATO states’ territory. He also pointed out that, unlike the Zapad 2013 drills, Russia is deploying forces in Belarus for the first time as part of the upcoming exercises.
“We are afraid that the Russian military presence in Belarus will become permanent,” he noted. In connection with this, Linkevičius mentioned that the annexation of the Crimea in 2014 also began with military drills.
NATO allies believe that Moscow deliberately downplayed the number of participants in the Zapad 2017 exercises in order to avoid inviting foreign observers.
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen recently said that the Zapad 2017 maneuvers will most likely involve about 100,000 soldiers.