American officers on “Zapad-2025” maneuvers. Head of the Belarusian MON: “We will show you everything you want”

American military officers observed common Russian-Belarusian military maneuvers on Monday, which was received as a signal of possible rapprochement between the United States and Belarus.

The visit took place as part of the “Zapad-2025” exercise, which began on Friday in the fields in Russia and Belarus, just 2 days after Poland shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace. Belarusian defence minister Viktor Chrenin personally welcomed American military and assured them that they could watch “Everything you care about”, suggesting full openness from the hosts. However, the officers refused to talk to journalists.

The presence of Americans was presented by the Belarusian Ministry of Defence as a surprise. The ministry's message states: “Who would have thought if another day of Zapad-2025 had started?”, emphasizing the participation of representatives of 23 countries, including 2 another NATO members, Turkey and Hungary. The video shows how 2 uniformed U.S. officers thank Chrenin for his invitation and shake his hand.

The American presence in the Belarusian camp is another signal of warming the relation between Washington and Minsk. Belarus, a close ally of Russia, made Moscow available to invade Ukraine in February 2022, and yet in fresh weeks it has been clearly approaching the United States. Last week Donald Trump's representative, John Coale, visited Minsk for talks with president Alexander Lukashenko, who consequently agreed to release 52 prisoners, including journalists and oppositionists. In return, the US softened sanctions against the national carrier Belavia, allowing him to acquisition parts and operate the fleet, including Boeing aircraft.

Coale reported that Trump shortly wanted to reopen the US embassy in Minsk, normalize relations and revive economical cooperation. He besides added that the erstwhile president actively acts to end the war in Ukraine and builds closer relations with Lukashenko, who regularly meets Vladimir Putin. A week ago, Trump sent Lukashenko a handwritten letter of sympathy.

“We will show you everything you want. Whatever you want to see – you can go, talk to people, take a closer look," said Belarusian defence minister Viktor Chrenin.

Meanwhile, Poland, in consequence to incidents with Russian drones and increased military activity at the border, decided to take a extremist step – complete closure of border crossings with Belarus. The decision was officially justified by national safety reasons and the request to "protect citizens from provocations and hybrid actions by the Lukashenko regime". Freight and passenger traffic was halted until further notice, and increased military patrols and alerts were introduced in border areas. The Polish authorities stress that this is simply a preventive action, but do not exclude further escalation if the situation worsens.