New Agreements Among Adversaries and Allies

Russia and Belarus conducted the Zapad 2025 military exercise, the first of its kind since the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The exercise was significantly smaller than the previous one held in 2021. While Belarusian officials presented the reduced scale as a de-escalatory gesture, the reality is that Russia's troop generation capacity is limited by its ongoing war effort. This analysis is part of a series focusing on America's primary adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.