On Tuesday, joint Russian-Belarusian assault manoeuvres commenced, the Russian media reported. Earlier in March, the defence ministers of both countries agreed to establish three joint training centres for military personnel.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that the exercises will take place in both countries and will last until March 27.

400 Russian and 80 Belarusian commandos with 100 units of heavy combat equipment will take part in the exercises held in Russia. A reverse proportion of soldiers will participate in the part of the manoeuvres that will be held in Belarus.

In Russia, soldiers will be trained at the Polivno training ground in the Ulyanovsk region, 800 km east of Moscow. On the other hand, Belarus has prepared a training ground in Asipovichy near Minsk.

At the beginning of March, representatives of the defence ministries of both countries met. According to reports, Moscow and Minsk intend to strengthen military cooperation. This year, joint training centres are to be established in Russia and Belarus.