Belarus assured on Tuesday that the military forces formed with Russia are “strictly defensive” after a statement made on Monday by dictator Oleksandr Lukashenko raised fears of the country’s direct intervention in the conflict in Ukraine, AFP and Reuters reported, citing Agerpres .

“The tasks of the regional group are purely defensive. And all the operations that are currently being conducted are aimed at taking an appropriate reaction to the actions committed near our border,” said Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Grenin, quoted in the press release of his department.

He specified that these forces should ensure the security of the borders of Russia and Belarus.

Earlier on Tuesday, Gernin made the claims on a more belligerent note, saying that “if we are attacked, if even one meter of Belarusian land becomes the subject of aggression, as the commander-in-chief said, the response will be immediate and heavy. Therefore, we once again warn against provocations.”

At the same time, he emphasized that Belarus does not want a war with Ukraine or other neighboring states.

What Oleksandr Lukashenko said on Monday

The day before, the President of Belarus, Oleksandr Lukashenko, announced that he had agreed with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on the deployment of this joint military group, without specifying exactly where it would be deployed and on what scale.

Lukashenko accused Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania of preparing “terrorist attacks” and “military uprising” in Belarus, training “radical” Belarusian militants to remove him from power.

However, Minsk denies that it intends to send its army, which is much smaller than Moscow’s, to fight in Ukraine alongside Russian forces.

“Unfortunately, the opinion is cultivated in the West that the Belarusian army can participate in a special operation in Ukraine. By succumbing to this type of disinformation, the leadership of NATO and a number of European countries are clearly considering the possibility of aggression against our country,” Oleksandr Volfovich, the secretary of the Security Council of Belarus, condemned on Tuesday.

Belarus has already offered its territory to the Russian military for an offensive against Ukraine, but Minsk has not yet taken a direct part in hostilities on Ukrainian soil.

Russia, for its part, declares that it will not use Belarusian troops in Ukraine

RIA Novosti, one of Russia’s state-run news agencies, also reported on Tuesday afternoon that troops of the Joint Russian-Belarusian Forces would not be sent to fight in Ukraine, citing retired Colonel General Andriy Kartapalov, who currently heads the State Duma’s defense committee. , the lower house of the Moscow parliament.

“As for his participation in the special operation, I don’t think it will be necessary. The group currently deployed there is more than capable of handling the task at hand,” he said.

Kartapalov justified the deployment of the joint group of Russia and Belarus by the fact that it “alleviated the concerns of our Belarusian brothers.”

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