Zapad-81

'West-81') was the largest military exercise ever to be carried out by the Soviet Union, according to NATO and US sources.

It was a joint operation including elements from all Soviet service branches and introduced several new systems such as the RSD-10 medium-range strategic missile (known often to the West as the SS-20 Saber) and the Project 1143 aircraft carrier Kiev.

Apart from being a show of force to the NATO countries, the exercise was a large-scale demonstration of military capability in Poland.

After failed reforms, communism in the People's Republic of Poland during the seventies was in a state of crisis and civil unrest (Solidarność).

Exercise Zapad included amphibious landings in Poland near Gdańsk, reminding Poles that the Soviet Union could resort to military force if it was deemed necessary for the preservation of communist power.