Putin in Belarus for talks amid fears of new assault on Ukraine | 24CA News
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Belarus on Monday alongside along with his defence and international ministers, fanning fears in Kyiv that he intends to strain his ex-Soviet ally to hitch a recent floor offensive that might open a brand new entrance in opposition to Ukraine.
Putin, whose troops have been pushed again in Ukraine’s north, northeast and south since invading in February, is taking a extra public position within the conflict. He visited his operation headquarters on Friday to sound out navy commanders.
His journey for talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was his first to Minsk since 2019 — earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic and a wave of pro-democracy protests in 2020 that Lukashenko crushed with sturdy help from the Kremlin.
Russian forces used Belarus as a launch pad for his or her abortive assault on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in February, and there was Russian and Belarusian navy exercise there for months.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed Russian news businesses that Belarus was Russia’s “No. 1 ally” however that solutions Moscow goals to strain Minsk into becoming a member of what it calls its “special military operation” had been “stupid and unfounded fabrications.”
‘Further aggression’
Ukrainian joint forces commander Serhiy Nayev had mentioned he believed the talks would deal with “further aggression against Ukraine and the broader involvement of the Belarusian armed forces in the operation against Ukraine, in particular, in our opinion, also on the ground.”
Ukraine’s high common, Valery Zaluzhniy, informed The Economist final week that Russia was getting ready 200,000 recent troops for a serious offensive that would come from the east, south and even from Belarus as early as January, however extra doubtless in spring.
Moscow and Minsk have arrange a joint navy unit in Belarus and held quite a few workouts. Three Russian warplanes and an airborne early warning and management plane had been deployed to Belarus final week.
But Lukashenko, a pariah within the West who depends closely on Moscow for help, has repeatedly mentioned Belarus won’t enter the conflict in Ukraine. Foreign diplomats say committing Belarusian troops could be deeply unpopular at house.
Sanctions hit exports
Already, Western sanctions have made it arduous for Belarus to ship potash fertilizers, its high export, through Baltic ports.
Western navy analysts say Lukashenko’s small military lacks the power and fight expertise to make an enormous distinction — however that by forcing Ukraine to commit forces to its north, it may depart it extra uncovered to Russian assaults elsewhere.
The Pentagon mentioned on Dec. 13 that it didn’t see “any type of impending cross-border activity by Belarus at this time.”
Lukashenko mentioned he and Putin would talk about a long-running effort to combine their respective former Soviet republics in a supranational Union State. The talks are seen by the Belarus opposition as a automobile for a creeping Russian annexation.
Belarus’s state news company, BelTA, mentioned they’d reply questions from reporters after their talks.
At a authorities assembly after the talks with Putin had been introduced, Lukashenko unexpectedly mentioned that any ceding of sovereignty could be a betrayal of the Belarusian folks.
“Particularly after these large-scale negotiations, everyone will say, ‘That’s it, there are no longer any authorities in Belarus, the Russians are already walking around and running the country,'” Lukashenko mentioned.
“I want to again underline this in particular: No one other than us runs Belarus.”
