MINSK, 19 December (BelTA) – The Security Council adopted a new plan of Belarus' defense and a concept for building and developing the Armed Forces for the period till 2030 at the session held in the Palace of Independence on 19 December. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko signed the package of documents, BelTA has learned.
The national defense plan includes several documents. For a year the General Staff of the Armed Forces had analyzed them and representatives of law enforcement and security agencies had discussed them during conferences. The main documents in the package are the decision of the commander-in-chief on Belarus' defense (a graphic part and a text part) and the directive on defending the country.
Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed during the Security Council session that Belarus remains committed to pursuing a policy of peace and remains a donor of security in the region. The head of state described the development of the country's own security system and continued military cooperation with friendly countries as undisputed priorities. “The Belarusian army has never threatened anyone, does not threaten and is not going to threaten. The army is a tool to prevent wars. If an aggression happens, the army should be capable not only of repulsing the aggression but also of delivering unacceptable damage to the enemy. The main purpose of the Armed Forces is to defend sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the country,” the president stated.
State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Stanislav Zas, Defense Minister Andrei Ravkov, and Acting Chief of the General Staff, First Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Volfovich talked to reporters after the session to explain peculiarities of the adopted documents and plans to develop the Belarusian army.
Focus on strategic deterrence
Stanislav Zas noted: “The defense plan focuses on preventing an outbreak of hostilities, on strategic deterrence. The new plan pays more attention to the matter than the previous one. Documents on strategic deterrence have been worked out. More attention is also paid to matters of destabilization of the situation in the country since those are also matters of defense. It is today's reality all over the world: everything begins with the destabilization of the domestic situation, with attempts to provoke a domestic armed conflict.”
A lot of attention was paid during the session to satisfying the needs of the country's defense. The state secretary noted: “Everything has been calculated. We are capable of ensuring the military security of our country bearing in mind the resources we have. We are going to gradually increase defense spending. It indeed has to be done if we are to properly build up the potential of the Armed Forces.” There are plans to increase defense spending up to 1.5% of the GDP over the course of ten years.
The Security Council also discussed the concept for building and developing the Armed Forces for the period till 2030. The document describes the composition and the structure of the army, the tasks the army has to accomplish in times of peace and war. According to Stanislav Zas, the concept focuses on preserving the existing composition and the structure of the Armed Forces, their quality development by means of better combat training, rearmament, and modernization of the technological component.
Spending to focus on drones, radioelectronic and radar intelligence collection
Speaking about peculiarities of the new defense plan, Defense Minister Andrei Ravkov underlined that this document is very practical-minded and relies on precise calculations. It stipulates measures that will be taken in time of peace, in time of a growing threat, and in time of war as well as the funding the measures will require.
The defense plan includes a strategic deterrence plan. “It stipulates all actions of military bodies, other security agencies, ministries and government agencies, which are supposed to take a number of measures in time of peace in order to reduce the probability of the emergence of conflicts or nullify it,” the defense minister explained.
Apart from that, the system for managing the country in time of war has been adjusted. “It has been tested during several exercises. We are confident it will enable smooth, purposeful, and productive control of all assets and forces in the course of defending the state,” he remarked.
As far as the funding of the Armed Forces is concerned, money will be primarily appropriated for the development of unmanned aviation, radioelectronic and radar intelligence collection. The army also intends to upgrade and buy assault aircraft, continue modernizing artillery of missile forces and the available cannon artillery and rocket artillery systems. “The top-priority measures draw attention to the problem of buying ammunition, primarily air defense guided missiles and antitank guided missiles, other high-precision weapons, which we have weapons for,” Andrei Ravkov said.
Apart from that, with the passage of time army units will get rid of outdated assets and equipment.
The worst scenarios taken into account
Aleksandr Volfovich explained that the people in charge of working out the documents had taken into account the worst scenarios of how the situation may develop. The experience of conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, Bolivia, and Venezuela was examined. “Conclusions regarding stages of the possible escalation of the conflict were made bearing that experience in mind. The defense plan stipulates adequate response measures,” he assured.
The Defense Ministry does not consider (but does not rule out) a large-scale war as a threat at present. “These days conflicts proceed in a different manner: the situation in a country gets destabilized, small groups are deployed as well as the opposition and diversionary and reconnaissance units. Mercenaries of private military companies are used heavily to destabilize the situation in a country and test the durability of the entire security system,” Aleksandr Volfovich explained. “We've come up with a set of measures to respond to that.”
For instance, the army has immediate response forces, which can be deployed to cover parts of the state border in an unexpected situation and take care of security of other facilities and installations inside the country together with the Internal Affairs Ministry.
At the same time Belarus does not see other countries as a possible aggressor. “We are a peace-loving country. Our military doctrine is defensive and provides for defending our own lands,” the acting chief of the General Staff stressed.
