MOSCOW, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Major Russia-Belarus military drills West 2017 have kicked off on the territory of the two neighboring countries, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday.
The main objectives of the drills are to improve the interaction of staffs of the armed forces of the two countries and their command and control systems, as well as to provide commanders of all levels with experience of military planning and managing troops in the conditions of modern armed conflicts, the ministry said in a statement.
The exercises involve up to 12,700 troops, 70 warplanes and helicopters, 680 units of military equipment, including about 250 tanks, 200 guns, numerous rocket launchers and mortars and 10 warships, the ministry said.
The West 2017 drills, which will proceed until Sept. 20, are purely defensive in nature and are not directed against any state or groups of states, the ministry statement said.
