Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Monday new joint maneuvers with Russia in February, the first Russian soldiers having begun to arrive in Belarus once morest a backdrop of tensions with NATO.
“We have planned to hold these exercises in February. Set the exact date and let it be known, that we are not blamed for bringing in troops unexpectedly and almost going to war”, Lukashenko said during a meeting with Defense Ministry officials.
As part of the first stage of the inspection of Russian and Belarusian forces for these maneuvers, Russian soldiers and military equipment have begun to arrive in Belarus, said for his part the secretary of the Belarusian security council, Alexander Volfovich, to the state-run Belta news agency.
According to the Belarusian president, these maneuvers were decided in December 2021 with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but their date had not yet been announced. He did not specify how many soldiers will participate.
