© Sputnik / Viktor TolochkoServicemen are pictured during the joint military drills between Belarus and Russia at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground, in Belarus.
"Look [on the map]: here is 2020 and here is 2024. I will not voice the figures, but you can see the changes in personnel alone. There is a 1.5 to 2 times growth. Even in terms of tanks: there were 69, now there are 129.... These groupings are not static, we also see them very well," Khrenin said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.
He cited the Pabrade military range in Lithuania, located 15 km (9.3 miles) from the border with Belarus, as an example. Khrenin said that the US promised to form the battalion temporarily, but it is still there.
In recent years, Russia has witnessed unprecedented NATO activity near its western borders. Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern about the bloc's buildup of forces in Europe, especially since the bloc supported the Kiev regime amid its attacks on Donbass.
Comment: Meanwhile the West has convinced a great many people that it is Russia that's preparing to storm through Europe: Korybko: Russia's Avdeevka win will reverberate across Europe and accelerate geostrategic shifts