A surprise inspection of the Belarusian armed forces to assess their ability to ensure the security of this former Soviet republic, an ally of Russia, began Tuesday on the orders of President Alexander Lukashenko, in Belarus.
The soldiers involved in the inspection "will have to go as soon as possible to designated areas, install engineering equipment there and organize their security and defense", the ministry said in a press release, without however specifying the number of soldiers or vehicles involved.
They will also have to train to put in place temporary bridges across the Niemen River, which waters both Belarusian territory, Russia and Lithuania, and the Berezina River.
Allied with Russia, the country served as a rear base for Russian troops for their offensive against Ukraine at the end of February, but the local army has not taken part in the fighting on Ukrainian territory so far.
In mid-October, Belarus and Russia announced the creation of a joint military force, with a purely “defensive” purpose according to Minsk.
According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, the Kremlin is preparing a new large-scale offensive.
While Russia mobilized some 300,000 reserve soldiers in the fall, the minister thinks that while half of them, summarily trained, have quickly reinforced the ranks on the battlefield, the other 150,000 benefit from a far more in-depth training for future offensives on "different sides".
As it takes about three months of training, "this means that they try to launch the next wave of the offensive probably in February, like last year", according to Oleksii Reznikov.