Zapad 2009

[2][3] Claimed as a practice of counter-terrorism and defensive operations centered on the suppression of an uprising by a Polish minority in Belarus and defending a gas pipeline (Nord Stream)[2] against attacks from Poland and Lithuania;[4] it also simulated an amphibious landing in Poland.

[2][5][9] Some analysts described the exercise as "repelling a NATO attack on Belarus" followed by an escalation into "limited nuclear strikes when conventional weapons failed".

[10] Others drew more cautiously worded conclusions, noting that the exercise involved nuclear-capable ballistic missiles (Iskander), but not necessarily a simulation of a nuclear attack on another country.

[2][3] Several analysts suggested that the exercise was a demonstration of power, particularly aimed at intimidating Poland, which at that time was considering closer cooperation with the United States on the issue of European missile defense.

that both Zapad 2009 and Vostok 2010 (East 2010) exercises involved the simulation of nuclear strikes on enemy forces to de-escalate a conflict;[13][14] a strategy that has been described few years later as obsolete or abandoned by the Russian forces[15] although others have suggested it is still a consideration of modern Russian military planning and political rhetoric.

Mordovia 782 , a Zubr -class hovercraft , deploying marines during Zapad-09
President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko observing the final phase of the Zapad-2009 strategic exercises that took place in Baranavichy , Belarus.