Lukashenko meets with Russian generals :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarusian and Russian troops planned and simulated actions in the event of an armed conflict during their recent joint exercise, Aleksandr Lukashenko told Russian generals at a meeting in Minsk on April 20, official sources said.

The Belarusian leader was referring to large-scale tactical maneuvers that began in western Belarus in late March and concluded in mid April.

“That was a plan of actions if we should be drawn into an armed conflict,” he told Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and General Staff Chief Yury Baluyevsky. “The mobilization of certain army units, support from the Russian Federation, joint operations by the Air Defense and Air Forces against the background of political negotiations of the two countries’ leaders,” he was quoted as saying.

“Some of our neighbors are sensitive about such things. But we have shown what we can. We are taking easy their cruising along our border. We saw what they are building along the Belarusian and Russian border with the Baltics and Poland.”

Mr. Ivanov said that military cooperation and steps to harmonize laws are on the agenda of the Union State Supreme State Council, which is to meet in Moscow on April 22.