Lukashenko: no need to scare people that Putin captured Belarus
Delivering his annual Address to the Belarusian People and the National Assembly, President Aleksandr Lukashenko urged not to respond to fakes and provocations
The President assured that our western borders are under constant control. Protection on the border with Poland and Lithuania has been reinforced. But at the same time, Belarus does not fence itself off from its neighbours with an iron curtain; on the contrary, it has introduced a visa-free entry procedure for Poles, Lithuanians and Latvians, “Don’t worry, we see who has arrived and who has left. Don’t think that have a pot hat instead of a head. We see everything. We keep military units in constant readiness in these directions, realising that Belarus is on the cover of the Union State western flank. President Putin and I have decided to partially deploy a regional group of forces. We are training it just to be on the safe side. This decision has been implemented.”
The Head of State said that since autumn 2022, the armed forces of the Russian army have been deployed at the Belarusian training grounds, the troops are engaged in combat training, and are ready for joint actions to protect our common defence space, “There’s no need to worry that Russia has captured something here. All these Russian units are being trained by five hundred Belarusian officers, combat co-ordination is being carried out, and training is currently underway. Where necessary, they are armed and provided materially under our command. Russia has other things to worry about, it has something to do. Therefore, there is no need to scare people that Putin has captured Belarus here. I control these troops, which are located on the territory of Belarus. They want to ‘shake’ you a little from the inside, shouting that you’re losing territorial independence and sovereignty, and that the Russians have seized here... I brought them here in order to train, prepare, equip and teach them to work together if, God forbid, we’ll have to do it.”
The President assured that the Government and the defence sector are taking measures to actively re-equip our army. The Head of State also voiced the famous saying: “If you want peace, prepare for war. He who wants victory, let him train soldiers diligently.”
