Belarus has begun military exercises near its southwestern borders
April 2, 2024
According to a statement from the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus on Telegram, the three-day exercise in the Gomel and Grodno regions, which began on Tuesday, April 2, “aims to train officers and territorial troops to defend their regions and (should show. – Ed.,) how to act in the event of the introduction of martial law.” The Gomel region borders with Ukraine, the Grodno region borders with Lithuania and Poland.
The Ministry of Defense clarifies that the exercises began on the “day of unity of peoples” of Belarus and Russia. “It was on this day in 1996 that the presidents of the two states signed an agreement “On the formation of the Commonwealth of Belarus and Russia”, this is how the message explains the reason for cooperation between these countries in the military sphere.
In the winter of 2022, the Belarusian Armed Forces announced a combat readiness check
On December 13, 2022, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense announced a sudden check of combat readiness on personal instructions from ruler Alexander Lukashenko. “The measures will be comprehensive, the troops will have to move to the designated areas as quickly as possible, carry out their engineering equipment, organize security and defense, and also build bridges across the Neman and Berezina rivers,” the message from the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus said.
During the inspection period, “the movement of military equipment and personnel, temporary restrictions on the movement of citizens (transport) on certain public roads and areas of land were foreseen”.
In March, the situation on the border between Ukraine and Belarus remained stable
Belarus, which is the Russian Federation’s closest ally, notes the Ukrainian publication Obozrevatel, has deteriorated relations with its western neighbors and Ukraine in recent years – especially after Moscow used Belarusian territory as a springboard for an attack on Kiev on February 24th. , 2022.
The publication, citing data from the State Border Service of Ukraine (SBSU), previously reported that the situation on the border between Ukraine and Belarus remains stable; no movement of equipment or personnel was detected. “Now Russia does not have enough forces on the territory of Belarus to take any measures against Ukraine in this regard,” the publication quotes the words of a representative of the State Border Guard Service.
Poland will reinforce its military presence in the east of the country
New facilities will be built in four border regions of Poland to strengthen the security and protection of Polish territory, said the head of the country’s Defense Ministry, Kosiniak-Kamysh, on March 23. He explained that these actions are related to the growing number of attempts to illegally cross the Polish border from Belarus. In early February, Kosinyak-Kamysh did not rule out a Russian attack on NATO countries if Ukraine was defeated.
In May 2021, Lukashenko announced that Minsk would no longer detain illegal migrants who attempted to enter European Union territory through Belarus. After that, the number of flights from Middle Eastern countries to Belarus increased, from which the flow of illegal immigrants increased sharply, mainly to Lithuania and then to Poland.
Source: DW
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