Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko feels threatened by Kiev and Western supporters. On Monday, he ordered the deployment of Russian forces to Ukraine in response. News from Reuters.
Lukashenko, who has been in power in Belarus since 1994, said that with the joint Russian-Belarusian forces in the north of Ukraine indicated a possible escalation of the war in Ukraine. An attack on the territory of Belarus is not only being discussed in Ukraine today, but is being planned. Their owners are pushing us to drag them there and start a war against Belarus.
Lukashenko said at a security meeting but could not provide any evidence to support the claim.
“We have been preparing for this for decades,” Lukashenko said during a meeting in St. Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation. We will respond if needed.
He also said he had agreed with Putin to deploy a regional military group and had begun assembling forces two days earlier, apparently after attacks on Russian road and rail bridges early Saturday.
He said that even a warning was given to Belarus through private channels that planned ‘Crimean Bridge 2’. However, he did not give any details in this regard.
Addressing Ukraine, Lukashenko said, ‘My answer was simple. Tell the president of Ukraine and other lunatics, if they touch one meter of our territory, the Crimean bridge will seem like a walk in the park to them.’
The army of Belarus is about 60 thousand. Earlier this year, 6 battalion-tactical teams of several thousand men were deployed to the Belarus border area. On Sunday, the head of Belarus’ border guard accused Ukraine of provocations along the border.
Russian forces used Belarus as a staging post for their February 24 invasion of Ukraine and sent troops and equipment from bases in Belarus into northern Ukraine.
(October 10)