The joint military exercises between Russia and Belarus, titled Zapad-2025 (West) – 2025, began on Friday (September 12, 2025) on the territory of Belarus.
The exercise, which is the first large-scale maneuver of its kind since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has been described as a test of the defense readiness of the Russian-Belarusian state union.
According to the Russian and Belarusian Defense Ministries, these exercises focus on practicing command and control of forces with the participation of a group of coalition forces from friendly countries.
Forces from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and other partners have been invited to practice joint actions.
More than 20 countries, including Belarus, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Congo, Mali, India, Iran, Niger and Tajikistan, will participate as participants, while countries such as China, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Serbia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan will participate as observers.
