Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday warned of a “complex situation” on the country’s border, with the concentration of about 23,500 soldiers from Ukraine and European Union (EU) member states.
“The special thing about this year is that the situation around Belarus is complex as never before,” Lukashenko said during a meeting with representatives of the country’s Security Council, army and border guard service (SBC), quoted by the official body. Belta.
Lukashenko, Russia’s main ally in the war in Ukraine, said protecting the Belarusian border also involves “police and local authorities” as well as his own force, according to Spain’s EFE news agency.
He also referred to the support of armed forces units after hearing a report from the chairman of the State Border Committee, Lieutenant General Anatoli Lappo, on the border situation.
“The most numerous military formations are concentrated in Ukraine, 17,200, and in Poland, 3,700,” the SBC said in the report, according to the “SB Belarus Today” portal, quoted by the Russian agency TASS.
The border committee noted that neighboring countries continue to build an “iron curtain” along the Belarusian border, “not only of structures and stationary engineering barriers, but also of minefields in the south.”
Belarus has a border about 3,600 kilometers (km) long that it shares with five countries: Russia (1,312 km), Ukraine (1,111 km), Lithuania (640 km), Poland (375 km), and Latvia (161 km) .
The SBC said that “more than 980 km of technical barriers of various types have been erected since January 1,” of which 553 km in Lithuania, 202 km in Poland, 141 km in Ukraine and 86 km in Latvia.
Poland, Latvia and Lithuania are members of the EU and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), organizations to which Ukraine has applied to join.
The possibility of Ukraine joining NATO was one of the reasons Russia cited for invading the country exactly 11 months ago.
The Border Force also informed Lukashenko that Belarusian territory has been the target of aerial reconnaissance by ‘drones’ (unmanned aerial vehicles), recording 463 sorties since the invasion of Ukraine.
During a meeting in Minsk with Russian diplomat Sergei Lavrov on Thursday, Lukashenko accused the West of using Ukraine against Belarus and said he was “pleasantly surprised” by Kiev’s resistance to such pressure.
“You know the intentions of our Western neighbors, not just Ukraine. They are trying to use Ukraine against Belarus,” he told Lavrov, according to a transcript available on the Belarusian presidency’s website.
“But what surprises and pleasantly surprises me is that Ukraine has managed to resist so far. It has not yet engaged in any provocations against Belarus, although it is actively encouraged by our Western neighbors,” he added. up to it.
Ukraine has expressed fears that Russia will use Belarus to attack the country from the north.
Moscow and Minsk decided to form a joint regional force, and Russia recently sent more troops to Belarus, but said they only participate in regular military exercises.
Source: DN
