Aviation activity
- As part of the joint tactical flight exercises of Belarus and Russia, the flight crews performed combat operations at the Ruzhanski training ground on Saturday. Due to this, aviation activity was recorded all over Belarus. The following airfields of the Belarusian Air Force were involved: Machulishchy, Babruisk, Lida and Baranavichy.
- Mi-8 helicopters of the Belarusian Air Force conducted flights at Machulishchy and Babruisk airfields. An-26 aircraft of the Belarusian Air Force also took off from Machulishchy airfield (operated as a transponder).
- Yak-130 trainer and combat aircraft of the 116th Attack Aviation Base of the Belarusian Air Force conducted flights at Lida airfield. Flights of fighters of the Belarusian Air Force (the 61st Fighter Aviation Base) and the Russian Aerospace Forces (the 14th Fighter Aviation Regiment) were conducted at Baranavichy airfield.
- Tu-134UBL aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces (RF-93936 – simulator for the training of Tu-22M and Tu-160 pilots) arrived at Machulishchy airfield. Later it flew to Chkalovsky airfield.
Rail activity
No rail activity was recorded.
Movements by road
- No large columns (10+ vehicles) with military vehicles of the Russian Armed Forces were recorded. Small columns and single vehicles were recorded in Minsk, Mazyr, Homel, on the M1 highway (between Minsk and Baranavichy) and on the M5 highway (between Minsk and Maryina Horka). We should also mention a column spotted on the M1 highway (Baranavichy → Stoubtsy), which consisted of 6 pickups Toyota Hilux and Jeep, as well as 8 trucks and a fuel truck.
- Single vehicles and small columns of the Belarusian Armed Forces were spotted in Rechytsa, Vitsebsk, and on the M5 highway (between Maryina Horka and Asipovichy).
Military activity on the territory of Belarus on January 28-29 / Belarusian Hajun
General conclusion
The joint tactical flight exercises of Belarus and Russia are to end on February 1. Due to this, aviation activity will still be high in the next few days. At the same time, the main phase of the exercises is over. An open question at the moment is whether the aviation hardware of the Russian Aerospace Forces taking part in the exercises will go back to their permanent deployment points on the territory of Russia.
There were no significant movements of the Russian troops on the territory of Belarus during the previous week. There were also almost no movements of the Russian Armed Forces by rail. This leads us to the conclusion that the Russian military are stationed at field camps at the training grounds of the Belarusian Armed Forces, where they are training the recruits who arrived in the first half of January. It should be noted that in November and December 2022, the Ministry of Defense of Russia and TV channel Zvezda regularly issued reports on military training of the mobilized soldiers. The last time such stories were issued was at the end of December 2022. This information policy can be explained by the redeployment of part of the Russian military from Belarus to the front in Ukraine.
Changes in the number of the group of the Russian Armed Forces in Belarus: no data
