Baltic nations are increasingly worried that Russian war games set
for this autumn will see President Vladimir Putin send as many as
100,000 troops to Belarus’ border with Lithuania and Poland -- the very
edge of the Kremlin’s sphere of influence with eastern Europe.
At a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Russia, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, said he’d met recently with Baltic ambassadors who said the planned “Zapad” exercises, set for September, could involve that many Russian troops, which would be a significant increase on the number that took part in previous drills under the same name in 2013 and 2009.
At a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Russia, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, said he’d met recently with Baltic ambassadors who said the planned “Zapad” exercises, set for September, could involve that many Russian troops, which would be a significant increase on the number that took part in previous drills under the same name in 2013 and 2009.