The first soldiers of Russia of the new joint military force with Belarusannounced days ago, arrived in this country, Belarusian authorities said on Saturday.
“The first trains with Russian soldiers that form the regional military force arrived at Belarus”, declared the Belarusian Ministry of Defense in a statement, without specifying the number of soldiers deployed by Russia for this purpose.
The ministry released images showing military trains and trucks, as well as Russian soldiers being greeted by women dressed in traditional costumes with bread and salt in their hands, a tradition of Slavic hospitality.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Tuesday of wanting to “drag Belarus into the war” and demanded before the G7 an international observation mission on the border between his country and his neighbor to the north.
BelarusRussia’s ally in its conflict with Ukraine, has already lent its territory to the Russian army for the start of its offensive in February, although Belarusian forces have so far not participated in the fighting on Ukrainian territory.
The entry of Belarusian forces into the conflict would mark a new escalation.
Victor Tumarrepresentative of the Belarusian Army General Staff, announced the day before the next arrival of the Russian military, a decision made by both countries before the increase in the potential of NATO on the borders with Belarus, the rearmament of Poland and the Baltic countries.
“The regional military grouping of the State Union is a strictly defensive project”, highlighted Tumar.
Last week, the Belarusian dictator, Alexander Lukashenkoannounced the creation of said group with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. “In view of the aggravation of the situation on the western borders of the Union State, we agreed to deploy a regional (military) grouping” of both countries, he noted.
Next, the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenbergasked Minsk to stop supporting Russia’s “special military operation”.
Ukraine accuses Belarus of complicity in the current Russian military campaign by ceding its territory to the invading Army to launch attacks in the neighboring country.
What impact could the annexation of the Belarusian army to the Russian one have on the war with Ukraine
Lukashenko announced on Monday that he and Putin had agreed to create a joint “regional grouping of troops” and that several thousand Russian soldiers would be stationed in Belarus. Lukashenko did not offer details on where the troops will be deployed, and Russia’s motives were not immediately clear, though the comments come as Moscow is struggling to replenish troops lost on the battlefield.
The Belarusian leader also said that kyiv is plotting to attack Belarus, and warned Ukraine not to attack “even one meter of our territory with dirty hands.” His defense minister Viktor Khrenin also warned Ukraine not to provoke Belarus, saying: “We don’t want to fight” and yet, a day later, he emphasized that the joint force is for defense.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky assured leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers on Tuesday that kyiv is not planning military actions against Belarus. She said that Moscow “is trying to draw Belarus directly into this war.”
Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Ukrainian television on Tuesday that Belarus is being “hostage to Russia”.
Fears of Russian pressure on Belarus are not unfounded. Lukashenko, an authoritarian leader, has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for 28 years while he had the political and economic support of Russia. Moscow has injected billions of dollars to prop up Lukashenko’s Soviet-style state-controlled economy with cheap energy and loans. And in 2020, the Kremlin helped him survive the largest mass protests in the country’s history, following a presidential election that the opposition and the West denounced as rigged.
Alexander has publicly supported Russia’s attack on Ukraine, drawing international criticism and sanctions against Minsk. Still, he has repeatedly dismissed speculation that Belarus would send its own soldiers to fight alongside Russia.
“Neither the Belarusian elites nor the population are ready to participate in this incomprehensible war”Valery Karbalevich, an independent Belarusian analyst, told the AP. Karbalevich said that Lukashenko is trying to negotiateoffering to keep Russian nuclear weapons on its territory and create the joint force, while hinting at the weakness of its own military.
Part of Belarus’s 1,000-kilometre (621-mile) border with northwestern Ukraine lies about 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Troops from Belarus would likely move west and attack the cities of Lviv and Lutsk, key transportation hubs for Western military supplies, said Zhdanov, a Ukrainian military analyst.
“It is vital that Russia cut off the transport corridor, because through Lviv Western weapons reach the east and south, where the Ukrainian army is conducting a successful counteroffensive, and this can only be done from Belarus,” Zhdanov said.
However the army of Lukashenko is relatively little (only 45,000 soldiers, including conscripts) and largely inexperienced. The Belarusian military conducts regular drills, but has not been in combat since World War II.
In the best case, Minsk will be able to deploy 20,000 soldiers, professional contract soldiers, according to Zhdanov.
Belarusian military analyst Alexander Alesin said Lukashenko can avoid getting involved by saying his limited troops are needed to defend Belarus’s borders from its neighbors: NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
(With information from EFE and AP)
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Source-www.infobae.com