Meeting of Belarus’ Security Council

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko hosted a meeting of the Security Council to discuss the country's defense planning and further development of the Belarusian army on 19 December.

“At the Security Council meetings  we consider key security issues,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he opened the meeting. “Today we will review the defense planning and further development of the army.”

Need to strategically plan the defense of the state

According to the President, this year the General Staff spearheaded the work to redo the defense plan of Belarus in light of the current realities of the military, political and strategic situation. New forms and ways of warfare used in modern armed conflicts were analyzed. The opinion of not only the security and law enforcement agencies but also other stakeholders was taken into account, the head of state said.

“How much does the new document take all things into account? How does it differ from the current plan?” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. He asked to pay special attention to the system of pre-emptive and retaliatory measures in case of a growing military threat to the state.

The President recalled that the Armed Forces of Belarus were reformatted several times on the heels of the military and political developments in the region and the world. “We understand what wars are going on now, or how wars will look like in the future. Based on our potential and capabilities, we are rebuilding our Armed Forces. It is the micro-level. Now it is time to consider what we need to do at the highest level, to strategically plan the defense of our state. This work was carried our throughout the year by the General Staff of the Armed Forces. We came to the conclusion that the current plan of defense, security of our state needed reworking and updating,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The meeting will also discuss the composition of the Armed Forces. Members of the Security Council must determine which systems should be developed as a priority and which weapons should be used, especially in aviation, air defense and other sectors. “These are very expensive systems,” the head of state said. The meeting will also talk over the financial and economic support of the Armed Forces and defense of the country.

“We must take fundamental decisions on these issues to make sure the state can maintain and equip the army, to ensure military security,” the President stressed.

Conflict potential building up in different regions

Speaking about the military and political situation in the world, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that the conflict potential is building up in different regions of the world. “The confrontation between the major centers of power: the United States of America, the European Union, China and Russia is not waning. The arms race has intensified as the architecture of international security has eroded. Information warfare has gained steam. We see military buildup on both sides of Belarus. The desire to present Russia as the main threat to the West has become the dominant policy of the North Atlantic Alliance,” the President said.

Under this pretext the NATO is expanding its presence in neighboring European countries; military activity is growing. The Russian Federation is also actively developing weapons, demonstrating increased combat capabilities. “You can watch it all in the media. No one is hiding it any more," he said.

The President is confident that the changes which are taking place in the global and regional security today will shape not only relations between the countries but also the areas for further development of the armed forces for many years to come. “This is true not only about our army. The things we have done before and will continue doing in the future will be common for our neighbors, all the countries,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Belarusian army is an instrument to prevent war

Belarus stays fully committed to a peaceful policy and maintains the status of a donor of security in the region. The President named the development of the country's own security system and military cooperation with friendly countries, primarily within the CIS, as top priorities.

“The Belarusian army has never threatened anyone and is not going to do this in the future. It is an instrument to prevent war. In case of aggression it should be able to both repel it and cause unacceptable damage to the enemy. The main purpose of the Armed Forces is to protect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the country,” the Belarusian leader said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that the country’s decisions in the military sector should be known to the society and the neighboring countries. “We should be absolutely transparent. We should not scare our neighbors and our society but speak openly about the situation and the measures we are planning to implement,” the President said.

The Security Council adopted a new plan of Belarus’ defense and a concept for building and developing the Armed Forces for the period till 2030 at the session held in the Palace of Independence. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko signed the package of documents.

The national defense plan includes several documents. For a year the General Staff of the Armed Forces had analyzed them and representatives of law enforcement and security agencies had discussed them during conferences. The main documents in the package are the Decision of the Сommander-in-chief on Belarus’ defense (a graphic part and a text part) and the Directive on defending the country.