NEXT month Russia will hold what is expected to be the biggest military exercise in Europe since the end of the cold war. According to nato estimates, it will involve at least 100,000 troops (see page 38). Revived from Soviet times by Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, the Zapad (West) drills, as they are known, take place every four years. Although the Kremlin insists that the scenarios it is playing out are purely defensive, that is not always how they have looked to its neighbours. Countries that have borders with Russia or Belarus, the opera- tional focus of Zapad 2017, are especially worried.
展开▼
