Media reports of a September military exercise by Russia and Belarus that simulated an attack by Poland have outraged leaders and citizens in the small Eastern European nation, the London Daily Telegraph reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 19).
(Nov. 2) -
Masked Belarusian troops participate in a joint Russian-Belarusian drill last September. The exercised simulated conventional and nuclear strikes on Poland, according to a news report (Viktor Drachev/Getty Images).
Official records described the exercise as "defensive," but many of the simulations seemed to be offensive in nature, the Polish Wprost magazine reported. The event included the simulated use of nuclear weapons by the Russian air force and an attack on a "Polish" beach.
Roughly 13,000 Russian and Belarusian soldiers are believed to have taken part in the simulation, code-named "West." It came amid continued tensions between Warsaw and the governments in Moscow and Minsk.
Polish lawmaker Karol Karski has complained of the drill to the executive body of the European Union.
"It's an attempt to put us in our place," said fellow lawmaker Marek Opiola. "Don't forget all this happened on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland."
"Russia has laid bare its real intentions with respect to Poland. Every Pole most now get of the off the fence and be counted as a patriot or a traitor," one Polish citizen said in a radio interview (Matthew Day, London Daily Telegraph, Nov. 1).
Meanwhile, Russia is believed to have carried out a successful ICBM launch yesterday from the submarine Bryansk in the Barents Sea, Agence France-Presse reported.
Russian agencies, relying on information from the nation's Defense Ministry, said that warheads from the missile struck their target at the designated time. No other information was provided about the series of missile or its range.
Bryansk is outfitted with 16 Sineva ballistic missiles, reported the Vesti television channel (Agence France-Presse/Khaleej Times, Nov. 1).