More than 4,000 Belarusian Military Take Part in Large-scale Exercises in Russia

The Union Shield 2019 exercise will be held from 13 to 19 September.

The Belarusian military began loading weapons and equipment to transport by rail to the site of Union Shield 2019 exercise, which is held in September in Russia. This is reported by the Defense Ministry of Belarus.

Engineer units and law enforcement units of Minsk Military Commandant's Office will be the first to leave for the exercises.

The Exercises will be held from 13 to 19 September at the training ground near the village of Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod region. In general, about 12 thousand servicemen, up to 950 units of military equipment, and up to 70 airplanes and helicopters will be involved in the Belarusian-Russian manoeuvres. 4 thousand servicemen, more than 30 tanks, 80 armoured combat vehicles, about 50 multiple launch rocket systems, artillery systems and mortars, and15 airplanes and helicopters will be involved from the Belarusian side.

By October 4, the Belarusian military and equipment will return to their permanent deployment in Belarus.

During the exercise, "the military security of the Union State will be exercised".

"The exercises take into account the analysis of possible threats to the military security of the Union State and the settlement of the military conflict. The practice shows that, as a rule, everything starts with terrorists, separatists, illegal armed groups supported by third parties. This is exactly the variant under development," the Ministry of Defense of Belarus notes.