They've been called a pretext for mischief against the Baltics and Poland and a means for Russia to increase its military footprint in Belarus.

They've been called Kremlin saber-rattling, a message to the West, and a very expensive and noisy psyop. And they've been called routine military exercises that are nothing more than business as usual.

But whatever you call them, the joint Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2021 military exercises that will begin next week seem to have everybody's attention.

So what should we expect from Zapad-2021? On this week's Power Vertical Podcast host Brian Whitmore speaks with military analyst Michael Kofman, director of the Russian Studies Program at the CNA corporation to find out.

Enjoy...