Zapad Exercises: Balancing Military Power in the Region II
By Dr. Syed Mehboob
Economic and Political Analyst
Assault units that liberate settlements during the special military operation use light vehicles, such as the Ukrainian Armed Forces and motorcycles, for rapid attacks on Ukrainian positions. During a training exercise, Russian and Belarusian military personnel practiced landing assault troops from helicopters. The assault troops disembarked from the helicopters using the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They were supported by Ka-52M and Mi-28NM helicopters.
On the final day of the exercises, the Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces, Vladimir Putin, visited an exhibition of military and special equipment at the Mulino training ground. There were 400 samples from 65 manufacturers. 125 of them are already fighting in the SVO, 194 are being tested by combat. According to presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the head of state "highly positively assesses the progress and results of these exercises." Peskov himself called the exercises large-scale and impressive.
Zapad 2025 was a very successful and important exercise which was continued for five days from 12th to 16 September 2025 across forty one land and maritime training areas in both countries, Russia and Belarus. Around one hundred thousand military personnel participated in the exercise, which also involved up to seven thousand Belarusian soldiers and ten thousand pieces of military hardware. The operation explicitly framed itself as a defensive measure to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Union State, but it also incorporated high-intensity combat simulations, including the theoretical deployment of tactical nuclear capabilities and advanced missile systems.
This exercise showcased the Russian Belarus capability to conduct large scale, multi domain operations, including potential nuclear deployments, signaling strategic deterrence to NATO. The presence of large number of foreign observers and high level systems exhibited a strategic collaboration of openness and operational secrecy regarding core capabilities.
Russia is an important player in global politics and all attempts to restrict it from playing its role by the west seems failed. President Vladimir Putin is still a popular leader not only in Russia but at global political stage he is considered a heavy weight personality and is important part of global south strategy. Zapad 2025 represents the culminating stage of the annual joint training cycle for Russian and Belarusian forces. President Vladimir Putin attended the Mulino training ground in Nizhny Novgorod to observe operational manoeuvres and review weaponry and special equipment. The military conducted the exercises across multiple geographic directions, including the Artic, and incorporated scenarios simulating large-scale aggression on the western strategic axis of the Union State. Military contingents from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, India, Iran, Congo, and Mali participated, along with observers from 23 countries, including NATO members Hungary, Turkey, and the United States. Belarus emphasized adherence to the OSCE Vienna Document extending invitations to all 56 participating states.
Russian forces positioned Iskandar-M operational-tactical missile systems in Kaliningrad, which are equipped for nuclear strikes, and performed electronic missile launches that simulated operational readiness without physical missile launches. The exercises encompassed extensive command-and-control procedures, aerial and artillery attacks, unmanned aerial vehicle surveillance, and simulated casualty evacuation. The exercises included a situation where an adversary sought to destabilise a fictional allied state (” Polesye”), which was addressed by a joint Russian-Belarusian counter-operation.
The exercises occurred concurrently as increased NATO activity, including Poland’s Iron Defender drills with thirty thousand participants and six hundred pieces of equipment, and NATO’s Eastern Sentry patrol, which was launched in response to Russian drones entering Polish airspace.
“Zapad-2025” demonstrates Russia and Belarus’ ability to integrate large-scale, multi-domain operations encompassing conventional, aerial, and potential nuclear capabilities. The deployment of advanced systems like the Iskander-M in Kaliningrad, alongside electronic launch simulations, highlights a strategic communication strategy aimed at NATO and nearby rivals. The exercise, which depicted a hostile force destabilizing allied land, demonstrates Russia’s ongoing focus on swift, pre-emptive tactics in the West.
The deliberate involvement of foreign observers, including NATO members, seems intended to project transparency while preserving strategic ambiguity regarding nuclear and high-impact systems.
The exercise worked as a multi-layered instrument of a state in war time, even though not fully mobilized. Politically, it fostered a perception of ‘resolve continuity’ to both domestic and international audiences, strengthening the Russian-Belarusian closeness and deploying calibrated, low-resource deterrent messaging. Militarily, it worked as a field laboratory where Russia stress-tested and refined its ‘Initial Period of War’ (IPW) playbook, incorporating direct lessons from the Ukrainian battlefield. The focus this time was on high-leverage capabilities, such as long-range precision fires, integrated air and missile defence (IAMD), and electronic warfare (EW), while conserving mass and materiel that are critically needed in Ukraine. This focus directly reflects the frictions and vulnerabilities exposed in the conflict, including brittle command and control, logistical fragilities, and an industrial base strained by sanctions.
The Zapad (West) strategic exercise cycle has historically been a premier political-military platform for Russia, signalling its readiness, demonstrating compellence, and managing its alliance with Belarus. Since its post-Soviet revival in 1999, the cycle has evolved through notable iterations in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021, each serving as a key data-point for observers assessing the Kremlin's strategic intent. Observing the Zapad gives a neat picture of the general Russian posture. The 2025 iteration unfolded under unprecedented circumstances. Russia is engaged in a large-scale, high-attrition war in Ukraine, its economy placed on a war footing, and its defence-industrial base navigating the constraints of western sanctions.
Zapad 2025 served as a strategic testing, reflecting the Kremlin's response to its constraints. The exercise’s low-visibility, modular design allowed Russia to maximize its political and military utility while minimising resource consumption. It was a calculated effort to train high-leverage capabilities, such as integrated air and missile defence (IAMD) and long-range fires, without expending the vast quantities of personnel and materiel that are critically needed on the front lines . This approach underscores a profound feedback loop between the battlefield, the Russian defence establishment, and the state's economic capacity, where Zapad is no longer a theoretical exercise but a practical field laboratory for a nation at war.
Zapad 2025 was as much a political instrument as a military rehearsal. The political leadership in the Kremlin and the General Staff orchestrated the exercise to project specific messages to both domestic and international audiences, all while managing the significant resource constraints imposed by the war. The strategic messaging surrounding Zapad 2025 was deliberately calibrated. Public narratives emphasized a defensive posture against external ‘aggression’ and reinforced the consolidation of the Union State between Russia and Belarus. This was linked to parallel Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) drills in Belarus, and the broader narrative was used to frame Western aid to Ukraine interpreted as a form of escalation The choreography of the exercise was designed to deter potential adversaries and normalize elevated military mobilization at home, meanwhile keeping headline numbers below the OSCE Vienna Document threshold for mandatory observation . Russia sought to signal resolve without ceding the advantage of opacity.
Despite western severe opposition Russia is playing and will play active role in global politics while the USA with a Himalayan debt of US$ 38,000 billion and economic meltdown in many European countries global power is shifting towards global south . French president Emmanuel Macron rightly said before French diplomats that the western hegemony and domination of three hundred years is over and west should mentally prepare for it. |