What You Need to Know About Russia’s Big Wargame on NATO’s Doorstep

For weeks, Russia and Belarus have been preparing for Zapad 2017.

Zapad is Moscow’s recurring Cold War-era wargame designed to show the world Russia can outmatch NATO. Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls the drills “exceptionally defensive” in nature. Zapad involves fictional battles played out across western Russia, Belarus and Kaliningrad. 

“So not far from many NATO members on the eastern flank, like Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland,” said Lauren Speranza, associate director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council in Washington. ”It could be the largest exercise since the end of the Cold War.”

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Read here for the latest Zapad 2017 analysis from the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Lab. 

Explore all of Defense One’s Zapad 2017 coverage here.