October 10 2022 17:50
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday he had ordered his country’s forces to deploy with Russian forces near Ukraine in response to what he said was a clear threat to Belarus from Kyiv and its backers in the West.
The comments by Lukashenko, who has been in power in his country since 1994, indicate a possible further escalation of the war in Ukraine, possibly with the presence of a joint force of Russia and Belarus in northern Ukraine.
“Strikes on the territory of Belarus are not only discussed in Ukraine today, but are also being planned,” Lukashenko said at a meeting on security, without providing evidence for his words.
“Their owners are pushing them to wage war on Belarus to drag us there,” he added.
“We have been preparing for this for decades,” Lukashenko added. We will respond if necessary,” he said, adding that he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the situation during a meeting in St Petersburg.
He added that he and Putin agreed to deploy a regional military group, and together they began gathering forces two days ago, apparently following the explosion on the bridge linking Russia and Crimea.
Lukashenko said that a warning had been sent to Belarus through unofficial channels that Ukraine was planning to build a “Crimea Bridge 2”, but he did not give details.
“My answer was simple: ‘Tell the President of Ukraine and his other supporters that if they touch one meter of our land, the Crimean Bridge will look like a walk in a park’,” he added.
The Belarus army is estimated at 60,000 personnel. Earlier this year, Belarus deployed six groups of several thousand to the border areas. On Sunday, the commander of the border guards of Belarus accused Ukraine of provocations at the border.
Source: agencies