The planned military exercise "West" of the Russian Federation may be canceled due to a lack of personnel and military equipment. This is stated in an intelligence analysis report published by the UK Ministry of Defense on the social network X.
According to the report, Russia is likely to cancel the planned exercises, which were supposed to complete the annual cycle of military training. These strategic maneuvers were supposed to take place in September 2023.
The study notes that after 2010, "joint strategic exercises" were periodically held in different regions of Russia, but since 2021 they have been focused on the western direction, indicating an emphasis on "countering the NATO threat."
"The failures of Russian troops in Ukraine have revealed that the 'joint strategic exercises' had limited practical value and were partly used as demonstration activities. It is likely that Russia is canceling the West-23 exercise due to the limited number of personnel and equipment. There is also a possibility that the Russian leadership is afraid of internal criticism for holding another demonstration exercise in the context of a military conflict," the analysis says.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 28 August 2023
— Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) August 28, 2023
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