Meeting to discuss plan of Belarus-Russia joint army exercise

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko approved the plan of a joint operational exercise of the Armed Forces of Belarus and Russia at the meeting on 17 January.

“As far as you know, in this difficult situation in December 2021 the President of the Russian Federation and I agreed to hold the out-of-schedule specific events on the western borders and in the south of Belarus – this is also the border of the Union State. Today we see that we need to hold a serious exercise in this western and southern region, on the ‘Belarusian balcony’,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the President, this will not be a Belarusian-only exercise. “This will be a normal exercise focused on a certain plan of opposition to these forces: the West (the Baltic states and Poland) and the South (Ukraine).”

The defense ministers of Belarus and Russian have prepared the plan of a joint army exercise. It will begin in February.

According to Belarus’ Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin, all issues have been discussed with the Russian side, the exact date of the beginning of the exercise has not been determined yet.

“Plans have been made to launch the exercise in February. Please determine the exact date. I do not want them to criticize us for deploying any troops on the spot, for allegedly going to start a war,” Aleksandr Lukashenko instructed.