Visit to Air Force and Air Defense Command Center

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko inspected the Air Force and Air Defense Command Center on 3 May.

The head of state was briefed on the current situation and progress of inspection of the alert Air Force and Air Defense Forces.

The President watched the entirety of the inspection, wondered about details of what was going on, and then talked to participants of the event.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “The inspection is over. The first matter I was concerned about is for everything to be objective and honest. As a military person I can tell you that if you organized the inspection honestly as you should have, then the results are decent. I didn’t serve in the Air Force, the Air Defense. But I see how this inspection proceeded and its concept. You’ve detected all the targets. You’ve handled all the targets. Well done. No target got past you. You monitor entire Belarus. You can see it in real time. And since you have it under control, you detected all the targets in time. You’ve handled them. You destroyed some targets and you forced some targets to land and things like that. You can see everything going on [on the other side] of the border. Intelligence works well. Information gets delivered. Well done.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko once again emphasized that this evaluation was viable only if the inspection had been truly unexpected: “One thing only: if all of it was unexpected and honest. If it was, then yes. It is not simply impressive. It is decent. Once we get objective instrument data, then we will sum up the final results at the Defense Ministry. This is why I have only one concern: it has to be honest. If a snap inspection is organized, it means only those, who have to know it, will know it. While the rest have to work as if in wartime conditions. If it was so, then well done. It was quite well.”