“We have recently agreed that you together with the Russian Federation will finalize the conception and details of the future Belarus-Russia army exercise Zapad 2021. This is symbolic for me, because as a young officer I took part in one of such exercises of the Soviet Armed Forces in Vitebsk Oblast to practice new methods of warfare,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The president noted that, having studied the plan of the upcoming exercise, he saw how far the armed forces had advanced. “Nevertheless, I would ask you to inform me whether the details of this exercise have been agreed with the Russian Federation, what the plan is. The decision to conduct this exercise was taken by the Russian president and me a long time ago,” the head of state said.
Another five-year period of the Armed Forces modernization was completed in 2020. Aleksandr Lukashenko asked the defense minister about the achieved results. “First of all, we agreed to advance our army to a certain level. Secondly, we were to significantly improve the physical infrastructure: military towns, garrisons, and so on. And thirdly, weapons,” the president noted. The head of state added that, in general, he was informed about the work in each of the areas, therefore, he was primarily interested in the Armed Forces development prospects. In addition, Aleksandr Lukashenko touched upon personnel decisions.
