MINSK, 8 August (BelTA) - Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko clarified the reasons for moving the main maneuvers of the joint Belarus-Russia military exercise Zapad 2025 further into Belarusian territory as he gave an interview with TIME Magazine, BelTA learned.
One of the questions addressed to the head of state was about the joint Belarus-Russia Zapad 2025 military exercise and the reasons behind the decision to change the initial plan by relocating the main maneuvers deeper into the Belarusian territory, further away from the western borders.
The president recalled that after announcement about Belarus and Russia's plans to conduct the exercise, there was significant uproar, particularly in Poland and the Baltic states. The reaction was more muted from Ukraine, as they are well aware that the border is mined and crossing into Ukraine from this territory is impossible. “We will never allow… And I’ve said it that we won’t launch an offensive against Kiev and so on. Ukrainians don’t believe it. Poles, Lithuanians, and Latvians are going crazy and issue warnings: look, here is the Suwalki Gap, they will advance upon Kaliningrad, the Baltic states will be cut off, three NATO countries will be captured and so on,” the president said.
“I have told you publicly that by withdrawing troops (it was my order) deep into the country, we pursued one goal: to deprive you of an opportunity to accuse us of preparing to cut the Suwalki Gap and capture the three Baltic republics first and then Poland. It is utter nonsense,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
“We’ve proven to all of them that we were not going to attack them and that we were going to hold the exercise in the center, deep in Belarus. In order not to give you the reason to continue criticizing us that we are going to [attack], that we are aggressors, that we are going to attack, well, at least countries of the eastern European Union: Poland, the Baltic states, and even more so Ukraine. It is the key point,” the head of state stressed.
When asked whether it was a sensitive point for Russia to withdraw the troops, the president said: “We even didn’t discuss it. We just withdrew the troops and that’s it.”
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