US military officers on Monday visited Belarus on invitation to watch the joint drills with Russia and were told by Belarusian Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin that they could look at “whatever is of interest for you”.
The joint “Zapad-2025” exercise of Russia-Belarus began on September 12 at training grounds in both countries, two days after Poland shot down Russian drones that crossed into its airspace.
“Who would have thought how the morning of another day of the Zapad-2025 exercise would begin?” Belarus said in a statement noting their presence among representatives from 23 countries including two other NATO member states – Turkey and Hungary.
The ministry also released a video of two uniformed US officers thanking Khrenin for the invitation
and shaking his hand.
“We will show whatever is of interest for you. Whatever you want. You can go there and see, talk to people,” the minister told the Americans, who declined to speak to reporters.
According to Reuters, the presence of the US officers is the latest sign of warming ties between Washington and Belarus, a close Russian ally that allowed Moscow to use its territory to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Last week, John Coale, a Trump representative, was in Minsk for talks with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who agreed to release 52 prisoners from his jails, including journalists and political opponents.
Reuters quoted Coale as saying that Trump wants to reopen the U.S. embassy in Belarus in the near future, normalise ties, and revive the economic and trade relationship.
