Russia withdraws all troops from Belarus after Zapad 2025 exercise. There were no provocations

Russia has withdrawn its military from Belarus after the West 2025 exercise, and no military units remained on the border with Ukraine. Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for the State Border Guard Service, said this during a telethon.

"Russian forces on the territory of Belarus, which participated in the joint exercises, formed columns to move towards Russia after the active phase on September 16. As of now, we can say that such a movement has taken place, and they did not remain on the territory of Belarus," Demchenko said .

According to him, no hostile activity was recorded in the direction of the Ukrainian border, in its immediate vicinity, or near it during the exercise or afterward. All locations of the Zapad 2025 exercise were located deep into Belarusian territory.

However, the military was watching to make sure that Belarus did not try to provoke Ukraine.

"We actively monitored the border guard groups, intelligence units, the Defense Ministry, and the State Border Guard Service to clearly understand how the situation in Belarus is developing. We were looking for any attempts to create provocations towards our border," said Demchenko .

He emphasized that the number of forces that Russia involved in the exercises was not significant compared to previous years.

• on September 8, 2025, Budanov stated that there was no threat from the Russian-Belarusian Zapad 2025 exercise.
• On September 12, border guards reported that the number of troops involved in the exercises in Belarus this year is less than in 2023.
• On September 17, it was reported that the active phase of Zapad 2025 was over, Russia is winding down its forces in Belarus