Russia rehearses creating “security zone” beyond its border

Russian forces rehearsed transitioning to offensive operations and building a so-called security zone on a neighboring country's territory during the Center-2026 drills, which ran September 28 through October 3 across eleven training grounds and the Caspian Sea, according to the Kremlin. Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov briefed Vladimir Putin that after repelling a simulated attack, forces would advance to liberate captured territory and carve out a security zone in adjacent land.

Moscow officially frames the drills as defensive, aimed at repelling external aggression in the Central Asian direction, but has not named which neighboring country the scenario depicts. Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi points to Kazakhstan as the geographic best fit, given its Caspian coastline and border with Russia's Chelyabinsk Oblast, though Russia has confirmed nothing.

More than 47,000 personnel, 2,000 pieces of equipment, 90 aircraft and 77 ships took part, with Belarus, China, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan and Tajikistan sending contingents. Kazakhstan, notably, sent only an observer group rather than troops. Putin visited the Chebarkul training ground to watch, remarking that the military was applying lessons from the war in Ukraine.

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