The first Russian soldiers of the new military grouping between Moscow and Minsk have arrived in Belarus, the Belarusian authorities said this Saturday, after the announcement this week of this joint force that will defend the country’s borders against Ukraine.
“The first convoys of Russian soldiers that make up the regional military grouping have arrived in Belarus,” the Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a statement, without specifying the number of deployed Russian soldiers.
The Belarusian ministry released images of military convoys and trucks, as well as Russian soldiers greeted by women in folk costume holding bread and salt, a tradition of Slavic hospitality.
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, accused Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine on Monday of preparing “terrorist” attacks and an “uprising” in Belarus and announced the deployment of this regional military group.
Asked on Friday about the size of this new force, Lukashenko indicated that the Belarusian army and its “about 70,000 elements” will be the “base” of the group. He did not specify how many Russian soldiers would be included in this group.
“There is no need to ask Russia for 10,000 or 15,000 people now, because there are other problems that you know about,” Lukashenko told Russian television.
Belarus has assured that this force will only be defensive and will aim to protect its border.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow on Tuesday of wanting to “drag Belarus into war” and asked the G7 for an international observation mission on the Ukrainian-Belarussian border.
Belarus, an ally of Russia, once served as a rear base for Russian troops in their offensive against Ukraine, but the Belarusian army has yet to take part in the fighting on Ukrainian soil.
Minsk denies wanting to send its army to fight in Ukraine alongside the Russians.
“We don’t kill anyone. [na Ucrânia] and we didn’t plan it. No one asked us to participate in this operation,” Alexander Lukashenko told US channel NBC on Friday.
“Our participation is in the sense of taking care of the Russians and Ukrainians, feeding the Russians and Ukrainians and, above all, offering shelter to people who come from Ukraine,” the Belarusian president added.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.6 million to European countries-, according to the most recent data from the UN, which places this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion -justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security- was condemned by the generality of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing Russia since political and economic point of view. sanctions
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war 6,221 civilian deaths and 9,371 wounded, stressing that these figures are far below the real ones.
Source: TSF
