Aleksandr Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, on Monday announced the joining of an alliance through a joint military task force with Russia in its ongoing war with Ukraine.
According to the state-run Belta news agency, Lukashenko had stated that Belarus and Russia will deploy a joint military task force in response to what he described as an escalation of tension on the country’s western frontiers.
“Given the worsening of the situation on the western borders of the Union State, we agreed to deploy a regional group of forces of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. This complies with our documents. It says that if the threat level reaches the level as it is now, we will begin to use the Union State group of forces. The basis (I have always said this) of this group is the army, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus.” he said.
Lukashenko said that the two nations had begun coordinating their efforts two days prior, possibly in response to the 2014 Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula bridge explosion.
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“I must inform you that the formation of this group has begun. It’s been going on for, I think, two days. I gave an order to start forming this group,” the Belarusian leader said.
However, he didn’t specify where the troops would be deployed.
At the security meeting he also told the country’s defence minister to prepare as Russian Armed forces will take base in Belarus
“Last thing they need is another conflict. You know they have enough problems. Therefore, we should not expect a large number of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. But it will be more than one thousand people,” he said.
“Please get ready to host these people soon and accommodate them where necessary, according to our plan. Without going over the top, keeping things calm, “Aleksandr Lukashenko said
The declaration came as Russian missiles for the first time in months slammed various cities in Ukraine, including the capital, Kiev.
During their invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russian forces used sites in Belarus as a staging area, transferring troops and equipment into northern Ukraine.
