Russians Exercise More Than NATO Members

Russian forces are conducting their big autumn military exercise on NATO's eastern flank. Expert observers expect up to 90.000 troops to take part in this year's exercise called "Zapan", which means "West" and is held in the so-called Western Military District.

Russia claims that a mere 13.000 soldiers are taking part in the training which is taking place in Belarus, Kaliningrad and parts of the Baltic Sea. If more service personnel were actually taking part in the operation Russia would have to have had admitted OSCE observers.

Before the end of the Cold War, NATO also staged extensive yearly joint military exercises in Western Germany. In 1984, the British lead an exercise called "Lionheart 84" for which up to 132,000 troops were assembled, most of them in Lower Saxony.