Estonian Army Chief Calls for Vigilance Ahead of Russia-Belarus Drills

Riho Terras, the commander of the Estonian Defense Forces, on Friday urged NATO allies to stay alert as Russia and Belarus are preparing to hold a large-scale military exercise later this month.

TALLINN  (Sputnik) — "Although the threat of a direct military intervention to Baltic states and Poland is low we must stay alert and be ready for a rapid response together with our allies if that changes," he said in a speech on security.

The war games will be held on September 14-20 and stretch from Russia’s far northwest to Belarus. The Russian Defense Ministry said 7,200 Belarusian and 5,500 Russian troops would participate, as well as 70 aircraft, 250 tanks and ten ships.

The scale of the exercise has raised concerns with countries on NATO’s eastern flank, but Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin has stressed it will be purely defensive in nature and focus on joint counter-terrorism operations.