Seven days of joint Russia-Belarus military exercises have ended amid a warning from the Lithuanian president that the drills could be used as a pretext for an attack on the West. <br /><br />Dalia Grybauskaitė made the claim during her address to the UN General Assembly on Monday (September 19).<br /><br />The drills involved 12,700 personnel, according to Russia, as well as aircraft, tanks, rocket systems and other equipment. <br /><br />“As we speak around 100,000 Russian troops are engaged in offensive military exercises named Zapad 2017,” Grybauskaitė said. <br /><br />“The Kremlin is rehearsing aggressive scenarios against its neighbours, training its army to attack the West.”<br /><br />Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters she might change her opinion when she sees information from international observers, including from NATO member states, who monitored the drills. <br /><br />Meanwhile the Belarusian president addressed concerns that Russia could use Belarus to prepare a possible attack against Ukraine or countries in the Balkans. <br /><br />“The attempt to discredit the Belarusian-Russian military exercise was extremely unprofessional,” said Alexander Lukashenko. Let’s wait until all the troops of Russia and Belarus return to the places of permanent deployment and see what they [European politicians] will say then.”<br /><br />The Zapad-2017 military exercises took place across six training ranges in Belarus and three in Russia.<br />
