Russia finally concluded its quadrennial Zapad-2017 military exercises last week. The exercises, which were held in Belarus and western Russia for six days, tested Russia's defensive capabilities against the fictional country of Veishnoriya which had supposedly been infiltrated by western-backed militias. The games were not, as many eastern European leaders and even some US generals feared, used to occupy Belarus, invade Ukraine or for some other deceitful act. In fact, Russian tank and airborne units are currently leaving Belarus and heading home. The games also did not, as many in the west said, appear to involve 100,000 or more Russian troops. Moscow claimed that only 12,700 troops — just under the 13,000 figure that the Vienna Document requires foreign observation — participated, and that "official count ...