This is the moment special forces troops from the Belarusian army carry out a water crossing using amphibious armoured personnel carriers during the trilateral Slavic Brotherhood War Games.

The Slavic Brotherhood military exercise is being carried out by the Russian, Belarusian and Serbian army at the Raevsky training ground near Novorossiysk in southern Russia from the 16-18th June.

In the footage, the Belarusian troops can be seen driving their BTR-80 is an 8×8 wheeled amphibious armoured personnel carrier into a river and then heading upstream towards their next checkpoint.

The military exercise involved around 1,000 personnel from the Russian, Belarusian and Serbian army and aimed to improve the ability of the three militaries to co-operate during a simulated enemy attack.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said: “The servicemen from the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, and the Republic of Serbia will hold unit cohesion training for subsequently practising joint operations as part of a multinational tactical group.”

The joint-training exercises between Belarus and Russia came as the Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko, also known as ‘Europe’s last dictator’ waits for much-needed loans from his pal Putin.

Belarus has been sanctioned repeatedly since last summer (2020) when Lukashenko’s regime hit headlines for brutally cracking down on the biggest protests he has faced in his 27-years as president.

The sanctions imposed on the country were ramped up when a Ryan air flight was diverted by a MiG-29 fighter jet and forced to land so that Belarusian police could detain dissident journalist Roman Protasevich on 23rd May.

The arrest drew condemnation from the European Union and the United States and further isolated the Belarusian regime as more sanctions were levied against Lukashenko’s regime.

As economic pressure from the west continues to mount Lukashenko is becoming increasingly dependent on Putin’s ‘charity’.

Minks is expecting to receive a EUR 408 million (GBP 352 million) loan from Russia this month (June) as part of the EUR 1.86 billion (GBP 1.6 billion) loan agreement the Kremlin offered Minsk last year after protest brought the country to its knees.

Despite the loans from the Kremlin and the military cooperation between Belarus and its powerful neighbour, Lukashenko’s faith in Putin may be slipping.

During a visit to an arms factory in Belarus’ Vitebsk region, he said: “We should not pin our hopes on some foreign uncle to supply us with weapons. We should have our own.”

The military exercise is expected to conclude tomorrow (18th June).