May 16, Pozirk. Belarus is ready to hold defensive military exercises and has nothing to hide, Alaksandar Łukašenka has told Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov in Minsk, most likely implying the Zapad-2025 military maneuvers planned for September in Belarus.
“We are not going to attack anyone, as some people there [in the West] think. Well, that’s their business. . . Let them think [what they want]. We have made a decision at the level of presidents to hold the exercise. We’ve discussed this issue with Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin],” his press office quoted him as saying.
Belarus’ training grounds are ready to host the maneuvers, while the Belarusian military is prepared to receive Russian troops, send soldiers to Russia if needed and train as a joint grouping of troops, Łukašenka assured the Russian official.
More than 13,000 troops are expected to participate in Zapad-2025 which will be synchronized with Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) drills. Minsk notified all the Vienna Document participating states of plans to host the drill, its timeframe and troops, Valeryj Ravienka in charge of Belarus’ international military cooperation department said earlier this year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly warned that Moscow may use the exercise as a pretext to mass troops in Belarus for an attack on a European Union country.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said later that the scale of Zapad exercises has always been far larger than declared, urging NATO to respond symmetrically to an increase in the number of Russian and Belarusian troops during the drill.
The situation at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border and in Belarus remains threatening since Russia may try using it again, Andrii Demchenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service, warned a few weeks ago.
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