Expert comments on significance of Belarus-Russia joint tactical flight exercises

Joint tactical flight exercises of the aviation units of the Armed Forces of Belarus and Russia have started today, with manoeuvres involving all airfields and ranges of the Air Force and Air Defence Forces of the Armed Forces of Belarus. Aleksei Avdonin, an analyst at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISI), shared his views with Alfa Radio regarding the significance of these exercises and why they are of great interest to our neighbours.

According to the expert, the presence of an aviation component in any military group means, first of all, superiority in the theatre of operations.

“Everyone understands perfectly well that if one or another force controls the airspace, then it also controls the ground operation. The task of the joint military group is to work out interaction in order to increase operational coherence. Of course, our opponents, the NATO countries, are actively monitoring these drills and understand that any [their] military provocations or adventures may end badly. The presence of a well-coordinated air force group in this direction ensures the security of our territory. No sane NATO commander will move his troops, realising that they can be destroyed from the air,” the speaker said.

He also reminded that Belarus would host three exercises of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation this year.

“Once again, it should be underlined that all our exercises are defensive in nature. At the same time, the exercises that are held on the territory of Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic States are of an offensive nature. We see that NATO’s plans are to achieve its political goals by military means. Our main task is to prepare the military component of the Union State. On the one hand, this is a demonstration to our opponents that in the event of a provocation, an appropriate response can be given. On the other hand, in order to have peace and order on earth, we must always train and prepare our armed forces for any non-standard situation, which is what we are doing,” the political analyst explained.

He recalled that the drills that are and will be held on the territory of Belarus within the framework of the Union State military group are primarily related to the training of regular military personnel.

“No mobilisation and involvement of civilians, those who are at their jobs, is envisaged,” Aleksei Avdonin concluded.