MINSK, October 22. /TASS/. The Union Shield 2027 joint operational exercise will be the main training event for the armed forces of Belarus and Russia next year, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said.

The concept of the joint operational exercise Union Shield 2027 was approved at a session of the joint board of the defense ministries of Belarus and Russia in Minsk on Thursday. "The results of today’s meeting have once again confirmed the unity of approach between the defense ministries of Belarus and Russia regarding cooperation in the defense sphere and our focus on solving practical tasks to ensure the military security of the Union State," Khrenin noted.

"Operational and combat training for the armed forces of Belarus and Russia remains an important area of interaction. The key event next year will be the joint operational exercise Union Shield 2027, which is intended to demonstrate our determination and ability to jointly defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our states and to ensure the further improvement of the Union State’s military security system," the BelTA news agency quoted him as saying.

The minister emphasized that the exercise will be exclusively defensive in nature. Khrenin also noted that the board meeting coordinated the two states’ positions on a number of pressing issues: countering attempts to falsify the history of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), military technology cooperation, and the organization of joint operational training and combat training events.