Zapad-99 exercise (russian: Запад-99, lit=West-99) was a large scale military exercise conducted in June 1999 and its results forced
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
to adapt a new defense concept
Russia's National Security Concept, 2000. The exercise showed that conventional Russian armed forces could not repel a
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
offensive, this in turn increased the tolerance for use of
tactical nuclear weapons.
Apart from nuclear controversy, Zapad-99 also sparked international tensions when US fighters intercepted Russian bombers allegedly in violation of Icelandic and Norwegian airspace.
See also
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Vostok 2018
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Zapad 2017
WEST 2017 ( rus, «Запад-2017», ) was a joint strategic military exercise of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and Belarus (the Union State) that formally began on 14 September 2017 and ended on 20 September 2017, in Belarus as wel ...
External links
{{Commons category, Exercise Zapad
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