Zapad-99 exercise () was a large scale military exercise conducted in June 1999 and its results forced
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
to adapt a new defense concept
Russia's National Security Concept, 2000.
The exercise simulated defense of Russian territory from NATO units, inspired by the recent demonstration of
NATO capabilities in Yugoslavia. Politically, Russia wanted to demonstrate its strength to ensure that there would be no foreign intervention during its pacification in the Caucasus region (see
Second Chechen War
Names
The Second Chechen War is also known as the Second Chechen Campaign () or the Second Russian Invasion of Chechnya from the Chechens, Chechen insurgents' point of view.Федеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 19 ...
).
The exercise showed that conventional Russian armed forces could not repel a
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
offensive, this in turn increased the Russian tolerance for use of
tactical nuclear weapons
A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon (NSNW) is a nuclear weapon that is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations, mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territ ...
for "de-escalation".
Apart from nuclear controversy, Zapad-99 also sparked international tensions when US fighters intercepted Russian bombers allegedly in violation of Icelandic and Norwegian airspace.
The exercise begun on June 22, the date of the World War II
German invasion of Russia
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis powers, Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet ...
.
See also
*
Vostok 2018
Vostok 2018 () was a large-scale Russian military exercise, held from 11 to 17 September 2018, throughout Siberia and the Russian Far East in the Eastern Military District. The exercise involved units from the Army, Air Force and Navy. Chin ...
*
Zapad 2017
Zapad 2017 (, , lit. West 2017) was a joint strategic military exercise of the Russian Armed Forces, armed forces of the Russian Federation and Armed Forces of Belarus, Belarus (the Union State) that formally began on 14 September 2017 and ended ...
References
External links
Russia's National Security Concept, 2000
1999 in Russia
1999 in Belarus
Zapad military exercises
Belarusian military exercises
Military exercises involving Russia
1999 in military history
Belarus–Russia relations
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