(Worthy News) – Military officials in Belarus sought Thursday morning to calm Western fears about major war games taking place with Russia, hours before they got underway.
“We are not threatening anyone,” Oleg Voinov, an adviser to the Belarusian Defense Minister, told journalists.
Despite assurances from Minsk and Moscow, the Zapad (West) 2017 maneuvers have caused concern among NATO nations. Some members of the alliance, including the Baltic States and Poland, have questioned Moscow’s real intentions and said the number of troops involved could be much higher than official figures offered by Moscow.
Russia and Belarus have said that the exercises, which will last until Sept. 20, will involve 5,500 Russian and 7,200 Belarusian troops, but U.S. military and NATO officials have said Russia could mass as many as 100,000 troops along the borders shared with Eastern European countries. [ Source (Read More…) ]
Editor’s Note: Rosh Hashanah begins on the evening of September 20th this year.