Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko revealed, on Thursday, the situation under which his country will enter the war on the side of Russia.
The official Belta news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying that he would not order his forces to fight alongside Russia unless another country launched an attack on his country.
Lukashenko, who has repeatedly denied allegations by Kiev and the West that his country might be drawn further into the conflict in Ukraine on the side of Moscow, said he planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
In a press conference, Lukashenko said, “I am ready to fight with the Russians from the lands of Belarus only in one condition: if even one soldier comes to the lands of Belarus to kill my people.”
“If they attack Belarus, the response will be the most violent, and the war will take on a completely different nature,” he added.
A flurry of military activity and joint air exercises between Russia and Belarus earlier this year fueled fears that Minsk may be preparing to play a bigger role in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.
In early February, the Russian president asked his government to negotiate with Minsk to establish joint military training centers with Belarus.
Putin assigned the Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs to negotiate with their Belarusian counterparts to establish these centers, without further details.
American comment
- On January 19, US National Security Council Communications Coordinator John Kirby commented on what was raised regarding Belarus’ possible participation in Russia’s military attack on Ukraine.
- Kirby said at the time, in statements to the media, that Washington “did not witness any moves from Belarus indicating a possible entry into the war with Ukraine.”
- The senior US official added, “We are watching the Russian-Belarusian military exercises, and it is not yet clear what their purpose is.”
- The Belarusian army has so far refrained from engaging in hostilities on Ukrainian soil.
- In mid-October, Belarus and Russia announced the formation of a joint military force whose tasks, according to Minsk, are exclusively “defensive”.
- The two countries regularly conduct large-scale military exercises, regularly raising speculation that the Belarusian army might be involved in the war its ally is fighting in Ukraine.