The exercises of the Western Operational Command are taking place from September 15 to 18 under the leadership of Belarusian Chief of the General Staff Pavel Muraveyko. Belarus’s Defense Ministry said that the military is practicing border protection, enforcement of martial law, combating sabotage and illegal armed formations, as well as repelling attacks by drones and light aircraft.
The Suwałki Gap is a 104-kilometer stretch of the Polish-Lithuanian border that connects the Baltic states with the rest of NATO territory and separates Belarus from Russia’s Kaliningrad region. Muraveyko said, “We are not considering any offensive actions”, and called talk of the Belarusian army preparing to attack neighboring countries “completely unfounded”.
According to the ministry, the number of participants and the amount of weapons involved do not exceed the thresholds under which the 2011 Vienna Document requires notifying other states. In February 2022, Belarusian authorities allowed Russian troops to use the country’s territory and infrastructure to attack Ukraine, while Belarus’s army did not directly take part in combat operations on Ukrainian territory.
The current maneuvers in Belarus are taking place amid reports of a possible increase in Russian pressure on NATO’s eastern flank. In early August, The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. intelligence data, reported that Moscow may try to test the alliance’s resolve, including through a limited incursion into one of the Baltic states. According to WSJ, at the end of August CIA Director John Ratcliffe, during a visit to Moscow, warned Russian authorities against attacking Lithuania, Latvia, or Estonia.
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