World on EDGE: Warning Putin may use Russia war games to SEIZE neighbour’s land

Joint war games with pro-Kremlin Belarus could be a mask leading to Moscow forces without insignia attempting to seize land in one of the West’s most vulnerable zones.

Such a scenario could see a bid to grab territory in Poland and Lithuania – both in NATO – to connect the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea, with its ally Belarus. 

The fears were voiced by Ukrainian armed forces after NATO has demanded more military observers at the Zapad 2017 week-long military drills scheduled to start on 14 September.

The war games are based on a Western attack on Belarussian and Russian forces from territory in Poland and Lithuania. 

Moscow and Minsk say a total of 12,700 troops will take part in the exercises, but NATO fears the true figure will be 70,000 or more. 

Today Belarus announced the bizarre fake names of countries that will make the supposed attack during the war games. 

Veishnoria, Vesbaria and Lubenia will  stage the attack on parts of Belarus for the purpose of the drills, said Belarus deputy defence minister Oleg Belokonev.

“The core of the scenario is based on a crisis situation of an escalating conflict, linked to increased activity of illegal armed gangs as well as international separatist and terrorism organization that receive external support,” he said. 

He even unveiled  a flag, passport, ID cards and the national currency of the fictitious Veishnoria – also spelled Viejsnoryjza –  which covers part of present-day Belarus.

Social media fans immediately demanded citizenship for the mock country which already has its own T-shirts. 

Vesbaria includes part of Lithuania  and western and central  Latvia.

Lubenia  encompasses north-eastern Poland and  south-western Lithuania.

This imaginary country includes the Suwalki Gap, a 65 miles stretch of  Polish and Lithuanian land  there which separates Belarus and Russia’s Kalinigrad Region. 

NATO this year carried out an exercise on protecting this corridor. 

But Kiev army chiefs claimed that for Russia it would be “quite easy to carry out an operation in this gap” deploying forces without insignia to grab the territory. 

Such tactics were controversially used by Moscow in Crimea – annexing the Black Sea peninsula in 2014 – and eastern Ukraine, also called Donbass. 

Ukraine warned the West that Russian forces deploying in Belarus for the Zapad drills could remain behind. 

“The Suwalki Gap separates Belarus and Russia’s Kalinigrad Region,” said Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesman for Ukrainian armed forces HQ.

“The distance is not big. 

“This is Poland and Lithuania. 

“And it is quite easy to carry out such an operation in this gap with ‘those who are not there'” – soldiers whose presence Russia denies.

“This is what the developments in Crimea ad Donbass showed,” he warned. 

NATO is aware that military exercises preceded Russian land grabs in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine six years later. 

The alliance wants more observers at the exercises claiming the total number of troops will exceed 13,000.

This is a figure above which foreign countries have the right to monitor exercises under international agreements. 

“People are worried this is a Trojan horse,” Ben Hodges, the commander of the US army in Europe, said last month of Zapad.

“They say, ‘We’re just doing an exercise,’ and then all of a sudden they’ve moved all these people and capabilities somewhere.”

Putin has confirmed he will personally inspect the exercises alongside his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.

Andrei Krasov,  deputy head of the Russian parliamentary defence committee, said the West was worrying needlessly. 

“Our neighbours in the West have absolutely no reason to worry,” he said.

“All of our servicemen will return to their permanent bases after the events envisaged as part of the drills are over.”