Muzhenko: Russia’s Zapad-2017 military exercises threaten NATO
The Zapad 2017 exercises have a broader context than it has been announced by Russia. They have the goal of preparing the Russian forces for offensive action, and are a threat both to NATO and to the states of the post-Soviet space, stated Viktor Muzhenko, Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as reported by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
“We are considering various scenarios of enemy action, including offensive action,” he noted.
According to Muzhenko, the total number of participants in the Russian drills could reach 230-240,000. Of them, roughly 100,000 will be in the south-western strategic area, including 70,000 armed forces soldiers and up to 30,000 other employees of the Russian security forces.
The head of the Defense Ministry added that the composition of the forces which will be involved in the drills will enable Russia to deploy powerful attack groups both in the south-west and in the western strategic areas, and to establish the conditions for their continued use.
“This objectively serves as a precondition for the emergence of a military threat of wide-scale Russian armed aggression, both against Ukraine and against NATO states. The occasion for the start of the aggression, despite the unpredictability of Russia’s top military and political leadership, could be, for example, massive provocation both in the territory of the Eastern provinces of Ukraine and in the Baltic States regarding infringements of the rights and freedoms or threats to the safety of the Russian-speaking population,” Muzhenko explained.
Earlier on Sunday, President Petro Poroshenko said that Russia and Belarus’s Zapad 2017 military exercises threaten Ukraine.
As reported, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are conducting command and staff exercises in parallel with the drills in Belarus. The maneuvers will take place between the 12th and the 15th of September.