Aleksandr Volfovich
MINSK, 12 December (BelTA) – The military and political situation around Belarus remains turbulent and the trends are distressing, BelTA learned from State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Aleksandr Volfovich after a session of the Security Council on 12 December.
Aleksandr Volfovich said: “Although the situation inside Belarus remains calm and controllable, certainly, we keep an eye on the situation outside Belarus. The military and political situation evolving around Belarus continues getting inflamed, unfortunately. The actions being taken primarily by the United States of America and the leadership of the NATO bloc around our country cannot contribute to calmness.”
According to the state secretary, Belarus registers aggressive actions on their part. The actions are aimed at destabilizing the situation inside the country. However, political and economic measures initiated by the outside forces have failed to produce the expected results. More efforts are now being poured into military activity.
“The actions our neighbors are taking under the leadership of the USA at western borders cannot bring about tranquility. And unfortunately, the trends are distressing,” Aleksandr Volfovich stated. As proof he mentioned a number of convincing facts: forces of over 32,000 people are now permanently stationed in the Eastern Europe region. As many as 17 battalion tactical groups are stationed over there, including 11 at the borders of Poland and the Baltic states with Belarus. The air force strength is estimated at 2,200-2,230 combat aircraft. Including 120-130 aircraft permanently stationed at airfields in Poland and the Baltic states. Three major military exercises are in progress in Europe right now, including one in Lithuania close to the Belarusian border. Apart from that, reconnaissance aircraft flights are registered all the time.
Apart from that, unfortunately, the situation at Belarus’ southern borders remains very tense. “Actions being taken by Ukraine’s leadership with regard to our country are not peace-loving either,” the state secretary stressed. “We are accused of creating some covering forces at the southern borders. But five years ago we didn’t defend the southern borders at all [with army units in addition to the border service] because we saw Ukraine as our neighbor, a country that does not present a threat to our republic. And now we are accused of setting up some forces at southern borders that threaten Ukraine’s security.”
In his words, the strength of the Belarusian forces in the southern direction is several times less than that on the Ukrainian side. A force of about 15,000 people is close to Belarus’ state border, including personnel of the Ukrainian army, police, internal troops, and the National Guard. “If we look at operational depth, then we’ll see that about 100,000-110,000 military personnel are nearly at our southern border. This is why all these threats should certainly be considered and responded to in a timely manner,” Aleksandr Volfovich stressed.
Medium-term planning documents were discussed during the Security Council session taking into account the changing situation.
“The plan of defense of the state will expire next year. Naturally, it is necessary to take into account the reality, negative trends and incorporate them into the new document. Moreover, we see what is going on in the world today: in Syria, Georgia, Moldova, and other states,” the state secretary noted. “For a year government agencies under the leadership of the General Staff will work out documents of the state defense plan in detail. The structure of the defense plan was also approved by the president today. For a year detailed calculations will be made, documents will be perused, and on the basis of that a set of documents of the state defense plan will be put together and submitted for approval of the Security Council in October-November 2025.”
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