Entry into the war soon?

According to politicians, Belarus is facing mobilization - allegedly on Putin's orders

Created: 01/08/2023, 19:35

By: Patrick Mayer

Shortly before the turn of the year: Russian and Belarusian troops hold joint military exercises.

© IMAGO / ITAR-TASS

According to a Belarusian opposition politician, Alexander Lukashenko will soon mobilize his army.

The order for this will be given by Vladimir Putin from Moscow.

Munich/Minsk/Moscow - Are these signs of another major Russian offensive on Kyiv - coming from Belarus, in spring 2023?

As assumed or even expected by some observers?

War in Ukraine: Russia is likely to transfer more soldiers to Belarus

portal

, citing Belarusian sources, over the weekend (7/8 January), 1,400 to 1,600 soldiers arrived in the city of Vitebsk within a short time.

Among them are now another 700 to 800 Russian soldiers who have been transferred to Belarus, as well as around 300 Chechen fighters, it is said.

Vitebsk is located in northern Belarus, not far from the Russian border.

Around Christmas, however, Russian and Belarusian troops held joint military exercises in the south-west.

Namely in the Brest region, not far from the Polish and Ukrainian borders.

According to a Belarusian opposition politician, a mobilization of the Belarusian army in the Ukraine war is imminent.

In the video: Compact - The most important news in the Russia-Ukraine war

Specifically: The opposition politician Pawel Latuschka, who lives in exile in Warsaw, told the 

that the preparations for this are said to be well advanced.

The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko only needs to press the button on the order of Moscow ruler Vladimir Putin to start mobilization, said the former Belarusian culture minister.

Latuschka is a member of opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya's cabinet in exile.

Ukraine war: opposition politician warns of many Russian soldiers in Belarus

As Latushka reported with reference to sources from Minsk, almost all employees of the Belarusian Interior Ministry were asked to hand in their passports.

What he sees as an indication of a possible mobilization.

At the end of last year, in an interview with the

, Latuschka warned of an alleged Russian-Belarusian offensive coming from the north on Kiev.

also read

Putin's new miracle weapon: the "Zirkon" hypersonic missile as a nightmare for military strategists?

TO READ

“The thunder lasted for hours”: Ukraine attacks military base – report on Russian “corpse procession”

TO READ

'Russia is dying': Russians fighting Putin in Ukraine - 'They are doing their job perfectly'

TO READ

“Sabotage”: Gas pipeline explodes in Russian-occupied territory – is Ukraine turning the tables?

TO READ

First look at Benedict's resting place: Vatican opens the cathedral grotto again - Bavaria reports about the farewell

TO READ

Fancy a voyage of discovery?

My space

According to his sources, Russia wanted to station 120,000 soldiers in Belarus by the spring, the opposition politician said at the time, and Lukashenko should at the same time upgrade his army from 65,000 to 100,000 men.

However, there are no similar reports from Western secret services and governments.

Lukashenko himself recently put his army at a maximum of 40,000 soldiers.

Pressure from Moscow: Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin have recently met repeatedly.

© IMAGO/Pavel Bednyakov

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), well-known Russian military blogger and former military commander Igor Girkin also questioned the thesis that Putin's soldiers could launch another large-scale attack on Ukraine from Belarus.

"Girkin argued that the Russian military could not effectively conduct an offensive operation to seize territory, but that a diversionary operation in support of a Russian offensive elsewhere in Ukraine made militarily sense," read one of the daily updated ISW reports from late December .

Ukraine war: Russia and Belarus probably step up joint military exercises

Meanwhile, according to information from Minsk, Russia and Belarus are stepping up joint military exercises.

The military group of both countries is almost continuously on exercises and is concentrating on warfare in cities, according to the Reuters news agency, reported the Belarusian military television.

The experience of the Russian army from the fighting in Ukraine would be used.

In addition, Russia and Belarus want to start joint air force maneuvers.

As the Ministry of Defense announced in Minsk on Sunday (January 8), the exercises should last from January 16 to February 1.

That shouldn't diminish the concerns of the Belarusian opposition.