The aggressor country of the russian federation most likely canceled the planned joint strategic exercises Zapad [West]-23 - a large annual event that was supposed to be the culmination of a year of military training. The exercises were to take place in September 2023.
This was announced by the British Ministry of Defense on Twitter.
As noted by British intelligence, since 2010 russia has been operating a four-year rotation cycle of Zapad-23 exercises throughout the country. However, since 2021, russia has held Zapad-23 in western russia at least once every two years, as its priority is to counter what it perceives as a threat from NATO. In particular, in 2021, the largest russian exercises since Soviet times were held.
According to British intelligence, the ineffectiveness of the russian military in Ukraine showed that "the Zapad exercises had limited educational value and were mostly conducted for show."
Russia probably canceled Zapad-23 because there were too few troops and equipment available. In addition, there is a real possibility that the russian leadership is also sensitive to internal criticism related to the conduct of the Zapad exercises during the war, the British Ministry of Defense notes.
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