Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says he has already ordered troops to deploy with Russian forces near Ukraine, stressing that the move came in response to a clear threat against his country from Kiev and NATO.
The Belarusian leader made the remarks at a press conference after holding a meeting with the country’s military and security forces in the capital Minsk on Monday, nearly eight months after Moscow began its military operation in Ukraine.
Lukashenko told reporters that Minsk had been warned through unofficial channels about alleged plans to carry out an attack on the Belarusian territory from Ukraine, without providing evidence for the assertion.
“In connection with the aggravation of the situation on the western borders of the Union State, we agreed to deploy a regional grouping of forces from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. This complies with our documents. They say that if the threat reaches the level it has now, we begin to use the Union State grouping of forces,” said the Belarusian president, as quoted by Russia’s Sputnik news agency.
The Union State, officially the Union State of Russia and Belarus, is a supranational organization consisting of Russia and Belarus, with the declared goal of boosting bilateral ties through integration in economic and defense policy.
Regarding the new joint forces near Ukrainian border, Lukashenko said the Belarusian army constitutes the basis or core of this group of forces. “I must inform you that the formation of this grouping has begun. It has been going on for, I think two days. I gave an order to start forming this group.”
As for the alleged threat of an attack by Ukraine on his country, Lukashenko said he had already warned Kiev not to move forward with any plans to carry out the first strike on Belarus.
Lukashenko also said that some European countries and NATO were also planning to attack Belarus. “The military and political leader of the North Atlantic Alliance and a number of European countries are now openly considering options to carry out aggression against our country, up to conducting a nuclear strike,” he said, as quoted by TASS news agency.
Lukashenko’s comments came just a day after the head of Belarus’s border guards accused Ukraine of provocations at the border.
