As Russia and Belarus wrapped up the active phase of their joint Zapad 2025 military exercises, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said Tuesday the drills unfolded as announced and posed no direct threat to Lithuania.
“The exercises did not create any direct threats to us,” Nausėda told reporters at the Rūdninkai training ground. “At the same time, since we consciously prepared, exercises were also held on our side. These were very serious – 17,000 troops in Lithuania, 40,000 together with Poland. These are truly large forces, which far exceeded those on the eastern side.”
The comments came after a series of airspace violations in NATO’s eastern flank countries. Ahead of the Zapad drills’ active phase last week, 19 drones breached Polish airspace and three unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down.
In response to repeated violations, NATO announced the launch of mission Eastern Sentry to strengthen defences in the region.
“I don’t know if the Russians planned it this way, but they did a useful job by drawing NATO’s full attention to our region and its threats,” Nausėda said. “The ‘Eastern Sentry’ mission is very good, because it will allow us to fill certain gaps in our air defence, with the help of our allies.”
He added that planning and integration work is already underway. “We will have safer skies and be better prepared to respond to similar challenges in the future,” Nausėda said.
Intelligence assessments ahead of the drills suggested about 30,000 troops would participate. The Zapad exercises, held September 12–16, are widely seen as a show of force toward the West.
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