Lithuanian president calls on Russia not to use Zapad drills to further fuel tensions

VILNIUS - Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has urged Russia not to use the upcoming Zapad military exercise to further fuel tensions as Moscow and Minsk gear up for joint drills in the fall.

"We are aware of the threats, we hope we will manage them well together with our allies, and we call on Russia not to use this exercise to further escalate tensions," Nauseda told a joint press conference with visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Vilnius on Thursday.

Held every two years, exercise raises certain tensions every time, but Lithuania is prepared for it, the Lithuanian leader said.

"It's certain escalation of tensions every time as the main simulation of the exercise for the last few years has been an attack on the Baltic states. So we certainly cannot remain indifferent to what is going on and we are preparing our own exercise as well," the president said.

"In any case, we are ready, and in a normal scenario we do not expect any particular surprises, but sometimes unplanned incidents happen during exercises and often conflicts arise on the basis of these unplanned incidents," he said.

Nauseda has previously said that the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) exercise Tarassis25 will be held during Russia's Zapad, which will be the largest exercise since this force was established.

Zapad is scheduled to take place in September and has been held every two years since 2009.