Belarus's Lukashenko warns Ukraine, deploys troops with Russia | Inquirer News

Belarus’s Lukashenko warns Ukraine, deploys troops with Russia

/ 06:33 PM October 10, 2022

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday he had ordered troops to deploy with Russian forces near Ukraine.

FILE PHOTO: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko holds a news conference in Minsk, Belarus, on August 9, 2021. Pavel Orlovsky/BelTA/Handout via REUTERS

LONDON — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday he had ordered troops to deploy with Russian forces near Ukraine in response to what he said was a clear threat to Belarus from Kyiv and its backers in the West.

The remarks from Lukashenko, who has held power in Belarus since 1994, indicate a potential further escalation of the war in Ukraine, possibly with a combined Russian-Belarus joint force in the north of Ukraine.

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“Strikes on the territory of Belarus are not just being discussed in Ukraine today, but are also being planned,” Lukashenko said at a meeting on security, without providing evidence for the assertion. “Their owners are pushing them to start a war against Belarus to drag us there.”

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“We have been preparing for this for decades. If necessary, we will respond,” Lukashenko said, adding that he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation while at a meeting in St Petersburg.

READ: Belarus says its army not taking part in Ukraine invasion

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Lukashenko said he had agreed with Putin to deploy a regional military group, and had started pulling forces together two days ago, apparently after an attack on Russia’s road and rail bridge to Crimea early on Saturday.

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Lukashenko said that a warning was delivered to Belarus through unofficial channels that Ukraine planned “Crimean Bridge 2,” though he did not give details.

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“My answer was simple: ‘Tell the president of Ukraine and the other lunatics: if they touch one meter of our territory then the Crimean Bridge will seem to them like a walk in the park’.”

Belarus’s army has about 60,000 people. Earlier this year, Belarus deployed 6 battalion-tactical groups, totaling several thousand people, to the border areas. On Sunday, the head of Belarus’s border guards accused Ukraine of provocations at the border.

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Russian forces used Belarus as a staging post for their February 24 invasion of Ukraine, sending troops and equipment into northern Ukraine from bases in Belarus.

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TAGS: Belarus, Conflict, Russia, War

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