Putin’s right-hand man scraps navy drills with Belarus in main shake-up

Vladimir Putin‘s right-hand man introduced no navy drills would happen with Belarus this yr as Russian troops are already “having exercises” in war-torn Ukraine.

During a press convention held on Monday following Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s talks on the Black Sea Grain Deal, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was requested concerning the Zapad navy train and whether or not it might be carried out in 2023.

Mr Shoigu mentioned, as quoted by Russian-state news company RIA: “No, this yr we’re having workout routines in Ukraine.”

The final Zapad drills had been undertaken by Moscow and Minsk’s troops between September 10 and 15, 2021.

The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed some 200,000 troops, 760 items of kit and 15 ships took half in these drills.

The massive scale of those workout routines was one of many clues that led the US intelligence group to foretell Putin was planning an operation – which turned out to be a full-scale invasion – in Ukraine.

Speaking to Politico earlier this yr, General Mark Milley, the twentieth chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, mentioned of the final Zapad: “We’re out of Afghanistan by 31 August, and there was a planned Russian exercise called Zapad, and they started marshalling the troops for the exercise in the September time frame.

“Right about then we realised that is odd; it was a lot larger in scale and scope than the earlier yr’s train.”

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 2022 with the help of Belarus, which allowed Putin’s troops to launch an attack on Kyiv from its territory.

While the Kremlin thought the war would last only a few days, Putin and his military leadership encountered resistance from Ukraine, which has since received the support of NATO members in the form of military aid allowing Kyiv to defend its borders.

In June, Ukrainian troops launched their counter-offensive manoeuvres, which is seeing Kyiv slowly but surely retaking several villages from Russian hands.

During the same press conference on September 4, Mr Shoigu also spoke about other possible military drills, this time with allies in the east.

After the emergence of a report claiming the Defence Minister had proposed to North Korean chief Kim Jong-un to hold out drills not simply with Russia but additionally with China, Mr Shoigu mentioned the likelihood was certainly into consideration.

He added: “Why not? These are our neighbours. There’s an outdated Russian saying: You do not select your neighbours, and it is higher to stay together with your neighbours in peace and concord.”