Belarusian president tests troop readiness with unannounced combat exercise

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has launched a snap combat readiness check of the nation’s Armed Forces. The 19th Separate Guards Mechanized Brigade is currently undergoing evaluation as part of a large-scale inspection of Belarusian military units, BelTA reports.

The primary aim of the inspection is to obtain an accurate assessment of the troops’ actual condition and to evaluate the operational performance of military personnel. Conducted on a surprise basis, the inspection allows for a realistic appraisal of readiness. A defining feature of the exercise is its direct oversight by the president, who personally places military units on combat alert, bypassing both the Defence Ministry and the General Staff.

The procedure begins with the president signing a classified directive outlining the inspection plan. This document is then delivered in a sealed package to the state secretary of the Security Council, who, accompanied by staff from the State Secretariat, travels to the designated military unit. The secretary subsequently reports the inspection results directly to the president, followed by a detailed analysis of the findings.

“In line with the inspection scenario, one of the mechanized units of the North-Western Operational Command has been put on combat alert in peacetime force. A group of the State Secretariat arrived and presented the directive signed by the president,” State Secretary of the Security Council Aleksandr Volfovich said.

He added that the exercise evaluates how servicemen respond to sudden alerts and the deployment of their units. “In general, every person in uniform must be ready to act at any time of day or night – this is what the president demands of us,” Volfovich stressed.

“The intensity of the inspection will be increased going forward,” he added.

President Lukashenko ordered the large-scale inspection of the Armed Forces on January 16. The first unit to be assessed was a technical support unit, one of the largest in the Armed Forces, responsible for the storage and maintenance of various armored vehicles and military hardware.

By  Vafa Guliyeva