This is news that does not go in the direction of appeasement.
Belarus announced on Tuesday the arrival of an unknown number of Russian troops to conduct “combat readiness” exercises in February, citing growing tensions with Westerners and Ukraine.
As proof of the deep concern on the international scene, Antony Blinken, the head of American diplomacy, announced almost in the wake of the first Russian maneuvers that he would go to Ukraine on Tuesday to show the support of the United States. in Kyiv.
"The upcoming operational readiness and combat exercises are taking place due to the worsening of the politico-military situation in the world, the continuous increase of tensions in Europe, in particular on the western and southern borders of Belarus", a indicated the Belarusian Ministry of Defense in a press release, adding that these were “impromptu” Russian-Belarusian maneuvers but that their scale, not specified, did not require notifying the details, in particular to the neighbors, in l occurrence Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine.
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These maneuvers take place in two stages: the first, by February 9, involves the deployment of Russian and Belarusian troops to “threatened areas”, the securing of state and military infrastructure, the protection of airspace. Then, from February 10 to 20, the actual maneuvers, dubbed "Determination of the union 2022", in reference to the Russian-Belarusian alliance, are to take place on several military bases in Belarus.
They had been announced the day before by the Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko, who had explained that these maneuvers had been decided in December 2021 with Vladimir Putin.
"Fix the exact date and let it be known, that we are not blamed for bringing in troops unexpectedly and almost going to war," he said on Monday, during a meeting with Ministry of Defense officials.
A response to the situations in Poland and Ukraine
"These should be normal exercises aimed at developing a precise plan in the event of a confrontation with forces coming from the West," added Alexander Lukashenko in a video broadcast on a Telegram channel linked to the Belarusian presidency. They will be called "Determination of the union 2022", a reference to the Russian-Belarusian alliance, but it has not been specified how many soldiers will participate.
The Belarusian president justified these exercises by the reinforcement of the NATO system in Poland and in the Baltic countries, on the borders of his country, as well as by the situation in Ukraine.
“Warsaw has asked NATO to deploy a logistical and technical support system at several levels.
As soldiers, we immediately wonder why.
This means that they are preparing for something serious, at least in the long term,” he continued, also accusing Ukraine of “continuing to build up its forces” on the outskirts of Belarus.
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Tensions have grown steadily in recent weeks between Russia and the West, who accuse Moscow of having massed troops in anticipation of an attack on Ukraine.
Moscow denies any bellicose intentions and in return denounces the strengthening of NATO on its borders and the project to integrate Ukraine and Georgia into it, which it considers to be part of its sphere of influence.
