Russia, Belarus start 'Zapad 2025' joint military exercise

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian and Belarus began a major joint military exercise on Friday that will involve drills in both countries and in the Baltic and Barents seas, the Russian defence ministry said.

The "Zapad-2025" exercise - a show of force by Russia and its close ally - is taking place at an exceptionally tense moment in the Russia-Ukraine war, two days after Poland shot down suspected Russian drones over its airspace.

The exercise was scheduled well before the drone incident took place.

"The objectives of the drills are to improve the skills of commanders and staffs, the level of co-operation and field training of regional and coalition groupings of troops," the defence ministry said on Telegram.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that the drills, including near the Polish border, were not aimed against any other country.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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