Overlap of NATO, Russian Drills in Balkans ‘Could Be Used for Escalation’
SputnikNews.com
05.11.2016
The fact that the recent NATO’s Montenegro 2016 and the ongoing Russian, Belarusian and Serbian Slavic Brotherhood 2016 military drills overlapped is not representing any threat for the security or stability of the Western Balkan region, experts told Sputnik.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Slavic Brotherhood 2016 military exercises in which 212 Russian, 56 Belorussian and 450 Serbian soldiers train to enhance operational capabilities for resolving tactical and operational tasks of antiterrorist operations in multinational surrounding started in Serbia on November 3 and will last until November 14.
Some 250 kilometres (155 miles) away, Montenegro was hosting the NATO exercises focused on international response to floods and chemical incidents from October 31 – November 4. The exercises had 680 participants from 32 NATO allied and partner countries.
“Those drills are of very different nature of military engagement, the fact those are happening at the same time is of no real importance. Of course it is an entirely possible scenario that planers and decision makers intentionally chose the same period for the purpose of exhibiting their presence in the region, but in reality this is of no real importance in comparison to the results of the exercises,” Director of International Security and Affairs Centre Nikola Petrovic said.
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