Service members of the Russian Armed Forces participating in the Slavic Brotherhood 2020 multinational exercise arrived in Belarus.
“The Slavic Brotherhood 2020 multinational Belarusian-Russian-Serbian military drills will take place at the Brestsky proving ground of the 38th Airborne Brigade,” the Russian ministry said. “The participants’ arrival is planned for September 10 to September 15.”
The drills will be led by a Belarusian Special Forces representative. Servicemen from Belarus, Russia and Serbia will practice joint actions on fighting terrorism, the ministry noted.
The Slavic Brotherhood drills took place in trilateral format for the first time in Russia in 2015. In November 2016, Serbia hosted them, and Belarus did in 2017. In 2018, the drills once again took place in Russia.
The military exercise will be held amid massive protests against President Alexander Lukashenko.
The demonstrators want Lukashenko to resign after his re-election last month amid allegations of ballot-rigging.
Mass unrest since then has seen at least four people killed and hundreds injured as the government tries to stamp out dissent. A number of opposition figures have fled the country.