25 Oct 2017 18:22

All Russian troops left Belarus after Zapad 2017 - Belarusian Defense Ministry

MINSK. Oct 25 (Interfax) - The Belarusian Defense Ministry has once again dismissed allegations that some Russian forces remained in Belarus after the Zapad 2017 exercises.

"The defense ministry's department of international military cooperation deems it necessary to state the following: as has already been announced more than once, the entire Russian contingent that took part in the Zapad 2017 joint exercise left Belarus in September of this year," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry was responding to reports by a number of news sources that Russian military units (over 5,000 personnel) allegedly remained in Belarus after the conclusion of Zapad 2017 and that this information had supposedly been confirmed during inspections by OSCE member states.