Belarus conducts military exercises near Polish and Lithuanian borders

Belarus has concluded a four-day military exercise conducted in the western regions of Brest and Grodno, near the borders of NATO members Poland and Lithuania. Held from September 15 to 18, the maneuvers involved mechanized and tank units, border protection, searches for sabotage groups, and defense against drones and light aircraft.

The Belarusian Ministry of Defense stated the exercises were of an “exclusively defensive nature” and claimed that the number of troops and equipment did not exceed the thresholds set by the OSCE Vienna Document requiring prior notification to other states. Vadim Surov, commander of the Western Operational Command, noted that units operated across a wide front to simulate missions in complex and changing environments.

Some maneuvers took place near the Suwalki Gap, a 100-kilometer strip of land between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad that serves as the only land connection between the Baltic states and the rest of NATO territory. These exercises occur amid heightened tensions on NATO's eastern flank, where the alliance has increased forces in Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.