Minsk-based unit training combat skills in joint drills with Russians

January 16, BPN. The 120th Mechanized Brigade’s unit stationed in Minsk has “started carrying out a number of training and combat missions” as a part of joint drills with Russian troops, the defense ministry’s press office reported.

The servicemen are to hold exercises at the 227th training range in the Minsk region, it added.

Russian aircraft and personnel arrived at Belarusian airfields the day before to participate in the joint drills scheduled from January 16 to February 1, reports said. On the same day, a senior Belarusian security official, Pavieł Muraviejka, described the drills as “purely defensive.”

The drills are taking place amid ongoing Russia’s war on Ukraine. Authorities in Minsk denied Belarusian troops’ involvement in combat operations on the Russian side. However, Belarus allowed Russian troops to attack Ukraine from its territory on multiple occasions.