"Today we are conducting the final stage of the Zapad 2025 strategic exercises," said Putin, wearing a military uniform, adding:"100,000 soldiers are participating."

Minsk previously reported that only 7,000 soldiers participated in the exercises held on Belarusian territory, which were observed by representatives of the US Army.

The Zapad exercises have forced NATO's eastern members to increase their vigilance, especially after the violation of Polish airspace last week, when Russian drones were shot down in Poland and Warsaw closed its border with Belarus.

Putin added that the aim of the exercises was to train to"repel potential aggression against the United States," referring to the allied formation of Russia and Belarus.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the exercises were designed to simulate the capture of the Suwalki Corridor, a strategically important Polish territory. Warsaw said it was deploying about 40,000 troops near the Belarusian border for the exercises.

On Tuesday, Russian state media, citing the Kremlin, reported that India, Iran and other Moscow allies in Asia and Africa are also participating in the joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises"Zapad".

"The coalition forces consist of special forces groups and military contingents of the armed forces of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Iran," the Kremlin's state agency TASS quoted him as saying.

Soldiers from Burkina Faso, Congo and Mali also participated in the exercise, the statement added.

Russia also said it practiced launching its latest supersonic naval missile, the Zircon, from a frigate in the Barents Sea on Sunday.

According to the Belarusian military, planning for the deployment of nuclear weapons was carried out during the Zapad exercises.

The 2021 Zapad exercises were held just months before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, and involved around 200,000 troops.