Vladimir Putin observes joint military exercise with Belarus

Vladimir Putin has observed a joint military exercise with Belarus, as tensions across Europe continue to rise after Russian drones flew into Polish airspace last week. Footage from Tuesday (16 September) shows the Russian president, wearing military attire, touring an exhibition of military equipment while overseeing ‘Zapad’ (West) drills between the two allies. It came as the neighbouring countries were wrapping up five days of war games which they said were designed to test their combat readiness to defend to “union state”. Putin claimed that 100,000 soldiers had taken part in the drills. Two days before the games started, around 20 Russian drones flew into Poland’s airspace. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was a “provocation” not seen since the Second World War, though Moscow denied targeting Poland.

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