Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has tested the combat readiness of his country’s troops just days after Vladimir Putin’s visit to Minsk raised concerns that the Russian president could pressure his ally and counterpart to further meddle in the conflict in Ukraine.
The official website of the President of the Republic of Belarus reported on Thursday that Lukashenko held a meeting on the country’s security and claimed that “the current situation and the threats” posed by the war in Ukraine justify it, his troops prepare for battle and redeploy them closer to the border.
“If you want peace, prepare for war. It wasn’t invented by me, nor by you,” Lukashenko said during the meeting, according to an official report.
“By this I want to respond to all sorts of rumors that are appearing in our society, especially on the Internet, about the movement of the Belarusian Armed Forces and the joint movement of the Belarusian and Russian Armed Forces.”
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speaks during a news conference at the Palace of Independence in Minsk, Belarus, December 19, 2022. Lukashenko has tested the combat readiness of his country’s troops and raised concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin could pressure his ally further involved in the conflict in Ukraine. Contributor/Getty Images
The Belarusian strongman – who has reigned supreme in the country for 28 years despite mass protests in August 2020 against his victory in a contested election – said Belarusian and Russian forces have conducted and continue to conduct joint exercises as a long-standing agreement between the both countries, adding that they are now “on a larger scale” due to the situation in Ukraine.
“We are conducting exercises on our territory,” Lukashenko said. “We are shifting both the combined force grouping and our forces to where we see fit. Point. No other plan, no conspiracy theories.”
Russian troops were allowed to train on Belarusian territory even before the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February, which Belarus used as a launch pad.
During Thursday’s meeting, which was attended by military and security officials, Lukashenko said he could not rule out “aggression” against Belarus. Although he did not specify the country this might come from, the implication was that the dangerous “neighbor” the Chairman mentioned is Ukraine.
“We cannot rule out that aggression will be launched against our country,” said Lukashenko. “At least we see such willingness among our neighbors.”
Speaking about the potential of a “terrorist” threat, Lukashenko – the only president Belarus has had since its current constitution came into force in 1994 – said his country could count on “immediate responding armed forces” available to deal with it to act “suddenly”. should something “unexpected” happen.
“These forces rise on alert for a period of time and go to the point where tensions arise,” Lukashenko said. “I have decided to review these immediate reaction forces.”
According to the Belarusian leader, training and exercises were conducted to check the combat readiness of these troops in view of a possible “terrorist” threat.
“Nobody excludes that terrorist groups will penetrate the territory of Belarus from inside (which is unlikely, practically impossible) and from outside, and either a separate building, house, state institution, school, God forbid, or some kind of Occupy settlement in general,” Lukashenko said.
After testing whether the armed forces and special forces were combat-ready, Lukashenko said the troops had returned to their permanent locations. The results of the training exercises were mixed, according to the Belarusian leader.
“I’ll tell you directly, without hiding anything, so that we don’t chatter our heels and shout cheers: there were also shortcomings,” he said during the meeting.
“I want attention today to be focused on these shortcomings. Because in case of hostilities, these shortcomings will become critical – people will die. That cannot be allowed.”
Military analysts previously told Newsweek that Belarusian forces were unlikely to be brought to the battlefield in Ukraine in support of Russian troops, citing the Belarusian public’s opposition to the war and Lukashenko’s reluctance to be drawn further into the war — particularly could be at stake because of the stability of his regime.
Former British military officer Frank Ledwidge said that Belarus had “very limited regular forces” which would not have a major impact on the war in Ukraine.
The Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War, which has overseen Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since its inception, reported that direct involvement by Belarusian troops was “unlikely,” although it wrote that “Russia has reportedly used Belarusian trainers for… the training uses mobilized forces and possibly contract soldiers and conscripts, indicating the limitations of Russian training breadth.