Russia sends troops to Belarus for military exercise, reports: Russian representatives evacuate Kiev
News agencies
18/01/2022
Tuesday, 18 January 2022, 14:06 Updated: 14:21
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In the video: Russian military forces arrive in Belarus (documentation on social networks according to section 27A of the Copyright Law)
Russian military forces began arriving in Belarus today (Tuesday) ahead of military exercises scheduled to take place next month near the border with Ukraine. This comes at a time of peak tensions between Moscow and the West, fearing that President Vladimir Putin is preparing to attack Ukraine. Belarus 'Defense Ministry said the two countries' forces, which were part of the Soviet Union, would train together from February 10 to 20 as part of a "united determination" exercise, not far from the borders of Lithuania and Poland, NATO members.
Moscow and Kiev do not rule out a scenario They will have to use combined military force. Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Pomin said the aim of the exercise was to prepare for "repelling external aggression during a defensive operation, fighting terrorism and defending the interests of the 'Union State (Russia and Belarus)'." Sent 12 Sukhoi 35 fighter jets, two units of S-400 air defense systems.
Belarussian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, who has become dependent on Russia following his international isolation since the 2020 presidential election, said the exercises were necessary due to the deployment of large Ukrainian military forces near the border with Belarus.
The approach of the Russian forces to the northern border of Ukraine coincides with the concentration of about one hundred thousand Russian troops in its territory near its southwestern borders with Ukraine.
Moscow denies the warnings from Western countries that it is preparing for an invasion in the coming weeks, and stresses that it has the right to transfer its forces in its territory as it sees fit.
Russian soldiers (Photo: AP)
Russia, however, has not denied military action if NATO and the United States insist on refusing to deny future annexation of Ukraine or other former Soviet republics. Talks between Russian and US and European envoys ended last week without a breakthrough, but vice versa.
Moscow has since threatened Deploying military assets in Latin America and conjuring up the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, which was one of the peaks of the Cold War.
In Canada it has been reported that a special force has been sent to Ukraine, inter alia, to formulate plans to evacuate Canadian diplomats should war break out.
Following the diplomatic efforts, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will meet tomorrow with the President of Ukraine and other senior officials in Kiev, and the next day will proceed to Berlin.
President of Belarus (Photo: AP)
Meanwhile, Russia today denied a report in the New York Times that it had begun evicting families of diplomats from Ukraine.
The newspaper, quoting a senior Ukrainian source, reported that 18 people, most of them family members of Russian diplomats, had left Ukraine on January 5.
It was further reported that about 30 more people had left the embassy in Kiev and the consulate in the western Ukrainian city of Lvov and that diplomats at two other consulates were called to prepare for evacuation.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has not commented on the reduction of diplomatic presence at consulates in Ukraine, but told Interfax news agency that the embassy in Kiev is operating as a series.
He did not elaborate further.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said it had not received information from Moscow about the evacuation of workers from Russia's diplomatic missions in the country.
In addition, in Kiev said that they do not intend to evacuate Ukrainian diplomats from Russia.
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