General Staff chief travels to Cuba amid comprehensive drills

March 17, Pozirk. General Staff Chief Viktar Hulevič has set off for Havana to strengthen military ties with Cuba, the Belarusian defense ministry reported.

The trip comes amid a comprehensive combat-readiness drill conducted by the Belarusian Armed Forces in response to NATO’s Steadfast Defender, a multi-domain exercise, incorporating land, air, sea, cyber and space operations.

Just a few days earlier, General Hulevič said that the scale of the exercise will be expanded.

The Belarusian defense ministry called up more than 3,000 reservists for the comprehensive drill, the defense ministry said today.

NATO’s Steadfast Defender involves deploying forces from North America and other parts of the Alliance to Europe. Over several months, complex multi-domain operations will be conducted across thousands of kilometers, thereby enhancing civil-military cooperation and national and collective resilience.

The exercise is strategically located in several key European countries, including Finland, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Events are taking place from late January to the end of May.