Source forces.net
Russia’s Huge Military Exercise
Zapad 2017 has the potential to be Russia’s largest military exercise since the end of the Cold War. The war games, which happen every four years, will be held from 14th – 20th September. They are planned well in advance, with members of other countries invited to behold Russia’s military might. Their roots hail back to Soviet days where Zapad ’81 saw 150,000 Warsaw Pact military personnel taking part. In 2017, Russian figures number troops participating in Operation Zapad at 12,700. Some Western analysts dispute this, believing the number to be up to 100,000 – breaking the 2011 Vienna Document that limits numbers to 13,000.
From our very good friends over at forces.net