Belarus and Russia will continue joint military exercises, Putin: “We will not annex Minsk”

At the end of talks with the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko the Russian president Vladimir Putin he said that Moscow and Minsk “will continue to hold constant military exercises”. “We have agreed – explained the head of the Kremlin – to continue to take all the necessary measures together to ensure the security of our two countries. We will give priority to training troops, increase their combat readiness… and we will continue regular joint exercises and other combat training and operational activities.”

The alliance between the two countries, therefore, continues to be solid, and it is no coincidence that Lukashenko has announced the deployment of S-400 Iskander missilesdelivered right from Russia and ready – when needed – to be used.

The two countries have been allies for decades and even on the occasion of the invasion of Ukraine have actively collaborated both from an economic, political and military point of view: just over two months ago, in fact, Belarus announced the deployment of a joint task force with Moscow’s troops deployed on the border with Ukraine and Poland, in the same areas where the Russian offensive last February had already started.

“Today’s interview was very productive“, declared Vladimir Putin at the conclusion of the summit, insisting that Russia has no interest in “absorbing” anyone and that they are instead unspecified “enemies” who want to stop the integration between Russia and Belarus. In the press conference, the Belarusian president added that “now the future of the peoples of Russia and Belarus is being decided”: “Today we can state unequivocally: together we are able not only to survive, but also to find opportunities for the development of our economies”.

Putin: “I maintain working relationships with many counterparts, including Macron”

“Together we resist sanctions pressure from hostile states, attempts to isolate Russia and Belarus from global markets, coordinate measures to minimize the impact of illegal restrictive measures on the economies of our countries. I must say that the we are doing it quite safely and effectively,” Putin said, explaining however that not all dialogue windows with the West are closed: “I maintain working relationships with many counterparts, including Macron.”

Alexander Lukashenko echoed him on this aspect: “Vladimir Putin and I usually say that Russia and Belarus are open to dialogue with other countries, including European ones. I hope that Europeans will soon listen to the voice of reason so that we can talk constructively of both common security and the future world order”.