08.10.2021 (13:01)
Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Alexander Fomin told foreign military attaches about the results of the strategic Russian-Belarusian exercise Zapad-2021
Today in Moscow, the Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Alexander Fomin, informed the military attaches of foreign states about the main results of the Russian-Belarusian strategic exercise Zapad-2021, which took place on the territories of Russia and Belarus from September 10 to 16.
He noted the planned nature of the exercise. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation conduct similar exercises annually, alternately on the basis of each of the four military districts. For example, in 2018, the exercise was held in the Eastern Military District, in 2019 - in the Central Military District, in 2020 - in the Southern Military District, in 2021, respectively, in the Western Military District.
The preparation of the Zapad-2021 exercise was carried out with the maximum openness allowed in these cases.
According to Alexander Fomin, the information presented during the briefing will help reduce military tensions in Europe, reduce the intensity of speculation about Russia's military activity in the region. He stressed that Russian military attaches were not invited to similar briefings on the exercises that were held in NATO countries.
Before the start of the exercise, a briefing was held at the Russian Defence Ministry, where the military attaches were presented with basic introductory information about the concept of the exercise, the goals and areas of its conduct. A similar briefing was held in September at the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus.
The concept of the joint strategic exercise is based on the experience of modern armed conflicts, as well as new forms and methods of using troops.
The exercise was conducted in two stages. At the first stage, the Joint Command of the Regional Grouping of Troops (forces) of the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation worked out the management of formations and military units during the repulse of aggression against the Republic of Belarus, as well as the organization of interaction and comprehensive support in the interests of solving the tasks.
The second stage involved managing troops during the repulsion of aggression against the Russian Federation and practicing the use of a coalition grouping of troops to restore the territorial integrity of the Union State. .
In total, about 200 thousand people, 80 aircraft and helicopters, 760 units of military equipment and 15 warships were involved in the exercise. Up to 2 thousand people from the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other countries took part in the exercise.
Military contingents and operational groups of Armenia, Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Sri-Lanka were deployed on the territory of the Russian Federation. The armed forces of Vietnam, China, Myanmar, Pakistan and Uzbekistan were represented by military observers.
In accordance with chapter V of the Vienna Document on the communications network of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a notification was sent 42 days before the start of the exercise. This notification indicates the number of personnel of military units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation subject to the Vienna Document during the exercise Zapad-2021 on Russian territory. This number did not exceed 6,400 military personnel.
The exercises in Russia and Belarus were conducted according to a single plan, against the background of a common operational and tactical situation. At the same time, the total number of the military contingent of the Armed Forces of Russia and foreign states at the Russian stage of the Zapad-2021 exercise did not exceed 9,000 military personnel. According to Chapter VI of the Vienna Document, an invitation to observers from the states parties to the Vienna Document is not required in this case. Thus, the Russian side fully complied with the requirements of the Vienna Document of 2011 on Confidence- and security-building measures.
Practical exercises of troops were carried out at five military training grounds in Belarus and at nine training grounds in Russia, as well as in the Baltic Sea. During the exercise on the territory of the Russian Federation, the issues of controlling the actions of aviation and air defence forces during the repulse of air attacks by a mock enemy were worked out.
The units of the coalition grouping of troops carried out operations to repel the offensive, inflict fire damage, defeat the wedged groups of the mock enemy.
Trainings were conducted on forcing a large water barrier with the help of ferry and bridge crossings.
The management of the actions of units and military units using a single tactical command system has been worked out. The fighting was planned taking into account the experience of modern local wars and armed conflicts.
On the territory of Belarus, a grouping of troops was created in a short time on the basis of peacetime combat-ready military formations with a high level of mobility, capable of conducting autonomous actions.
New methods of conducting defensive actions, including the landing of tactical air landings, have been tested.
The forces of the Baltic Fleet at the initial stage of the exercise worked out combat training tasks to search, block, destroy sabotage and reconnaissance groups and illegal armed formations. In the future, they repelled the landing of the amphibious assault and defeated the warships of the mock enemy.
In accordance with the decision of the operational headquarters to prevent the introduction and spread of a new coronavirus infection in the Armed Forces, effective joint work of specialists of the NBC protection troops and medical units was organized, which made it possible to prevent the disease among the participants of the exercise.
In preparation for the exercise, combat coordination was organized with representatives of military formations of foreign states. Joint reconnaissance, interaction on a model terrain and in combat role-playing areas with a detailed study of the tasks performed.
Trainings were held on the management of units and teams of aviation, artillery and air defence systems.
During the practical drawings, special purpose groups practiced the order of combat in urban conditions. At the same time, the troops used the experience gained in the Syrian Arab Republic. Joint landing and combat coordination of the battalion tactical group was carried out.
The management of units, air strikes, artillery fire and air defence was carried out as part of a coalition group of troops.
On September 12, at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in the Brest region, in the presence of the President of Belarus and military attaches of foreign states, joint practical actions of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, part of the forces of the tank army of the Western Military District and the airborne assault division of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were carried out.
The main draw of practical actions on the territory of Russia on September 13, 2021 was held with the personal participation of the President of the Russian Federation V.Putin at the Mulino training ground in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
The actions of the troops were observed by military delegations of 12 foreign countries and military attaches accredited in Moscow from 34 countries. In total, 134 foreign representatives were at the training ground.
Military attaches of NATO countries were not invited to this stage of the exercise, based on their principle of reciprocity, since Russian military attaches were not invited to a similar exercise of the Defender of Europe-2021 alliance.
For the first time in practice, a massive landing of a parachute battalion numbering up to 600 people was carried out at night and under adverse weather conditions. For the landing, 21 Il-76MD military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces were involved, 30 combat vehicles of the new generation BMD-4M were landed.
During the drawing of various episodes of the exercise, unmanned aircraft, including strike unmanned aerial vehicles, were actively used to effectively adjust the fire, as well as in the interests of reconnaissance units.
The methods of remote disabling of the so-called swarm of attack unmanned aerial vehicles of a mock enemy have been worked out.
For the first time, the combat use of Platform-M shock robotic complexes has been tested at Russian training grounds near Kaliningrad. Remotely controlled combat robots on a tracked chassis have successfully completed the tasks of actions in urban conditions.
During the Zapad-2021 exercise phase, the Uran-9 and Nerekhta reconnaissance and fire support robots were successfully used in the combat formations of combined arms units at the Mulino training ground.
Within the framework of previously reached agreements with our Belarusian colleagues, during the exercise, we tested the functioning of two combat training centers for air force and air defence specialists and combat duty in the unified regional air defence system of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.
The experience gained by the crews of fighters of the Aerospace Forces of Russia and the Air Force of Belarus will be used in organizing the protection of the air borders of the Union State.
The joint strategic exercise Zapad-2021 was purely defensive in nature and was aimed at training troops to conduct military operations in modern conditions. It demonstrated the increased training of troops and increased the operational compatibility of the military command bodies of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, allies and friendly states.
"All the set goals of the exercise have been achieved, the training issues have been worked out in full," Alexander Fomin said at the end of his speech.