MOSCOW, 16 August (BelTA) – Belarus will not allow the West to start a domestic conflict with the help of militants. Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin made the statement at the 10th Moscow Conference on International Security on 16 August, BelTA has learned.
Viktor Khrenin said: “Today we see how they keep making forces in the furnace of the Ukrainian military conflict to start a war against Belarus. We are concerned by actions of Western countries which create and train nationalistic military forces like Kalinovsky's regiment and units like that. Their future purpose is quite obvious for us: to start a civil war in the territory of our state. We think we have to warn Western opponents: we've learned lessons taught by Russia's campaigns in Chechnya and remember who fought in Khattab's units under the guise of Chechens.”
The official went on saying: “The Republic of Belarus will not allow countries of the West to use similar illegal armed units in order to start a domestic armed conflict in our territory and will not allow them to clandestinely participate in it while hiding behind statements like ‘It is Belarusians that fight against Belarusians over there'. Our military doctrine clearly says that efforts of countries, which train terrorist and extremist organizations in their own territories for the sake of attacking the Republic of Belarus or for the sake of starting a domestic armed conflict in Belarus represent a military threat for us. And we will localize this military threat by using all the available forces and assets, including preventatively.”
Taking part in the Moscow Conference on International Security are over 700 guests, including defense ministers, chiefs of general staffs, delegations of defense ministries, representatives of the expert community from various countries, and representatives of international organizations. Participants of the conference are discussing problems of global and regional stability as well as various aspects of security in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
