MINSK, 2 July (BelTA) – The situation at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border must not deteriorate. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the relevant statement during a solemn assembly held in the Palace of the Republic on 2 July in anticipation of Independence Day, BelTA has learned.
After a protocol address to the Belarusian nation on the occasion of Independence Day, Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked he would like to dwell on the matters that the general public is worried about. These matters are definitely discussed by people and are regularly covered by mass media and experts. The situation at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border is the hottest topic of the last few days.
“I’ve noticed that all the mass media and what not very actively discuss the situation at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. What is really going on? Here is a take from the horse’s mouth as they say. Frankly speaking, nothing special [is going on]. Our neighbors took very active actions in the last few days. Possibly a couple of weeks. Very active. And our military personnel, particularly the border service noticed it right away. They delivered reports: as a matter of principle, it had been expected,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The concentration of Ukrainian troops at the border may be related to the arrival in Belarus of a large number of military personnel from friendly countries, including from Russia, for the sake of participation in celebrations on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Belarus’ liberation.
“But in no way should we allow any escalation or any aggravation. I want the Ukrainian leadership to hear me. The concentration of troops albeit insignificant ones is very dangerous during combat operations. We’ve analyzed the situation. We understand perfectly well that we need no aggravation. We’ve always said it. Ukrainians understand that we will retaliate,” the head of state said.
He cited excerpts from Russian mass media, which say that the Belarusian president suffers from “positive color blindness”. They say that Aleksandr Lukashenko will not draw any red lines and Belarus’ response to an aggression will be terrible. “If someone crosses the Ukrainian border, I will not have simply good color blindness. I may start suffering from night blindness. This is why the response will be truly harsh and sudden,” the Belarusian leader stated.
The president also noted that the Belarusian border service and the army intercept drones by the dozen. Drones are used to transport a huge amount of explosives to Belarus for the sake of transporting them later on to Russia where terrorist attacks will be arranged.
“We will defend ourselves and we will protect ourselves from these drones wherever they may want to fly. We don’t want a repeat of the attack at the [music venue] Crocus City Hall, explosions, and so on. We’ve been managing to restrain this onslaught together with Russia’s FSB and the Russian Defense Ministry. But I would like to ask Ukrainians not to play with fire. It is very dangerous,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
The head of state also noted that the involvement of the Russian volunteer corps and the Belarusian one had been noticed as well. “It is true that they have less than 100 men but they call themselves a corps,” Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked. “I would also like to warn them not to operate too actively outside our country’s borders. It is very dangerous.”
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, the Belarusian border service has been switched to enhanced security mode. Units of the special operations forces and other reconnaissance units have been deployed. The Belarusian army now covers probable axes of advance of the enemy.
“If you remember, we organized such exercises a year ago. It turns out they were not in vain,” he reminded.
Apart from that, Air Force units and air defense units of both Belarus and Russia are on high alert. Missile systems Polonez and Iskander have been deployed.
“No red lines. A strike with all kinds of weapons,” the Belarusian leader issued another warning.
