Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Belarus and Russia would deploy a joint army task force in reaction to what heightened tensions on the country’s western borders, according to the official Bella news agency.
Lukashenko said Monday that the two countries began gathering forces two days ago, following the explosion of a bridge connecting Russia to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
The announcement came as Russian missiles hit several cities in Ukraine and added the capital, Kyiv, for the first time in months.
“I have already said that Ukraine is not only talking, but is making plans to move on the territory of Belarus,” Lukashenko told an assembly with security officials, quoted by the official Belta news firm. It did not provide any evidence for the claim.
“We have agreed to deploy a regional grouping of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus,” he added.
Lukashenko specified where the troops would be deployed.
The president said Belarus “must have plans in advance to counter all kinds of scoundrels who will drag us into a fight. “
“There will be no war on the territory of Belarus,” he added.
Belarus relies financially and politically on its main ally, Russia.
Russian forces used Belarus as a level for their invasion of Ukraine on February 24, sending troops and aircraft into northern Ukraine from bases in Belarus.
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) October 10, 2022
In a Twitter post later on Monday, exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said that “Ukraine poses a risk to Belarus,” calling it a “lie” through Lukashenko “to justify its complicity in terror” opposed to Ukraine.
“I urge the Belarusian military not to stick to the orders of scammers, refuse to participate in Putin’s war against our neighbors,” he wrote.