Vast drills spotlight Russia's grip on Belarus during standoff with West

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia launches the active phase of vast military exercises in Belarus, a display of strength that shows how Moscow's tightening grip on Minsk has given it enhanced capabilities in its standoff with the West over Ukraine.

The joint Allied Resolve drills that NATO has described as Russia's biggest deployment to ex-Soviet Belarus since the Cold War run until Feb. 20 and are part of a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine that has stirred fears of a looming invasion.

Russia, which denies any invasion plans, has not disclosed how many troops will be involved. Many of the troops have been deployed from thousands of miles away in Russia's Eastern Military District in the far east.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that Russia was expected to have 30,000 troops as well as Spetsnaz special operations forces, SU-35 fighter jets, S-400 air defence systems and nuclear-capable Iskander missiles.

In military terms, the deployments create a new front for Ukraine to worry about and stretch Kyiv's forces thinner around its long defensive perimeter, said Neil Melvin, director of International Security Studies at the RUSI think-tank in London.

The deployments to the north of Ukraine put Russian troops much closer to Ukraine's capital Kyiv, which lies just over 90 km (56 miles) from the border at its closest point.

With the deployment of fighters and air defence systems, Russia has much more effective defensive cover for its Kaliningrad exclave in Europe, and electronic jamming systems in Belarus make Western intelligence gathering harder, said Melvin.

"(This) puts forces in play on NATO's eastern flank that will discourage or prevent NATO having any kind of role," he said.

No More Ambiguity

For years, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a wily political operator in power since 1994, played off East against West for political gain and resisted the idea of hosting a permanent Russian military base.