Author:Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab

Written by: Lukas Andriukaitis

First look into withdrawing Russian troops from Belarus after the Zapad 2017 exercises

The week-long Russian-Belarussian strategic military exercise Zapad 2017 attracted close attention in Ukraine and the member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). But this topic did not simply disappear after the formal end of the exercises on September 20; experts and analysts are still discussing lessons that the West should glean from these exercises (see EDM, September 22, October 3). But what lessons did Russia itself learn from this year’s Zapad drills, and what are its implications for NATO?

Russia's Zapad (West) 2017 joint military exercises will include up to 100,000 troops and span Belarus, the Baltic Sea, western Russia, and the Russian exclave Kaliningrad.

Russian military exercises along NATO’s Eastern flank will demonstrate Putin’s intent across the post-Soviet sphere.

The official phase of “Zapad-2017”, the biggest Russian-Belarusian military exercise this year, started today (September 14th).

The Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 (West-2017) exercises, scheduled for 14–20 September, have for many months been the core of an information war between Russia and NATO, in which Ukraine and Belarus have also participated.