The international situation has not improved yet, which carries the risks of a forceful resolution of conflicts, said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko at the summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). According to Mr. Lukashenko, the strengthening of NATO’s military presence near the western borders of the CSTO creates conditions for military provocations.
According to the Belarusian president, the principles and norms of international law “are grossly ignored, which leads to the expansion of the border of regional instability. “This year has not contributed to the improvement of the international situation…. Global tension creates risks of violent options for resolving conflicts, ”he said at a meeting of the leaders of the CSTO member states (quoted by the state agency BelTA).
The President of Belarus called the aggravation of the situation on the western borders of the CSTO a “dangerous tendency”. As Alexander Lukashenko specified, the US is expanding its military presence in Eastern Europe, and the NATO country is also building up its combat capabilities.
“All this creates conditions for military provocations and incidents near our borders. At the same time, our neighbors – the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine – react very nervously to the planned Belarusian-Russian exercise “West-2021”. They have actually ended, and the hubbub from the West is still spreading all over the world, ”said Mr Lukashenka. He noted that the Russian-Belarusian exercises were “exclusively defensive in nature.”
Exercises “West-2021” were held from 10 to 16 September at nine Russian and five Belarusian training grounds. They were attended by about 200 thousand people, including about 2 thousand servicemen from the CSTO member states, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other countries. During the exercise, Alexander Lukashenko said that Minsk will purchase Russian weapons worth more than $ 1 billion by 2025. He specified that the matter concerns dozens of aircraft, several dozen helicopters, as well as Tor-M2 anti-aircraft missile systems. Russia and Belarus are also discussing the supply of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems.
Details – in the material “Kommersant FM” “Belarus will play on the defensive.”
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