Members of NATO’s US-led Western military alliance are keeping a close eye on their borders with Belarus as it mobilizes its border troops amid Russia’s requests for a foreign alliance to the longtime leader. of the Eastern European environment to reverse.
Amid persistent protests challenging the results of his recent re-election, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko called on the United States to “plan and execute” the unrest, and to urge European nations to “play” with the plot. according to the Belarussian State Telegraph Agency. The 26-year-old leader claimed that NATO neighbors were stepping up military movements to oust him after other former Eastern bloc countries slipped into the Western fold.
“You know, when there is unrest nearby and tanks and planes start moving, this is not a coincidence,” Lukashenko said. “Meanwhile, military drills abroad are underway. What does this mean? They are getting ready for invasion, if necessary.”
Lukashenko has already decorated his borders with a series of military drills on the western border, and his army has announced a new set of maneuvers to continue through the end of the month.
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“We are all Belarusians,” Defense Minister Major General Viktor Khrenin said at a meeting with senior officials on Friday. “This is our country and we will not give it to anyone.”
Across the border, NATO states remain cautious, especially Poland and Lithuania, both of which have blamed Lukashenko for plotting against him.
“Poland is closely monitoring military activity near our border,” the Polish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Newsweek. “Dislocation of Belarusian troops near the western border of the country is a subject of analysis by the appropriate Polish state services and structures.”
The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country and other NATO nations were “closely monitoring the security situation.”
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“At present, we are not considering recent military exercises by the Belarussian army near the borders of Lithuania to pose a direct military threat,” the ministry said. “Obviously, they lack transparency and do not increase predictability and do not contribute to regional stability.”
Belarusian Ministry of Defense
The unrest in Belarus has also caught the attention of its ally, Russia, where President Vladimir Putin shared Lukashenko’s views on Western interference. The Russian leader censored the European Union in a call on Thursday with EU Council President Charles Michel over an extraordinary EU summit criticizing the Belarusian election, and on Friday Putin voted on these concerns. the United Nations Security Council.
“The unacceptability of outside interference in the affairs of the republic and the lack of alternatives for the regulation of all internal Belarusian problems by the leadership of this country in dialogue with its citizens was emphasized,” stated a readout of the Kremlin.
In a call last weekend, Putin offered the services of Lukashenko Russia in helping Belarus, if necessary. The Belarussian leader said he would accept Putin’s offer in the event of an “external threat.” When contacted earlier this week, the Russian embassy in Washington referred Newsweek to the remarks of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Russia’s TV, where the top diplomat said he had so far “convinced the Belarussian people with their own wisdom the current situation on them can invent their own. “
On Thursday, Lavrov spoke with his Belarusian counterpart Vladimir Makei. The two “discussed various initiatives taken by Western countries regarding further actions of the Belarusian leadership – and noted that” the solution to the existing problems of the republic is their internal affair and does not require external intervention, and even more ” instructions “on with whom and how to conduct a dialogue,” according to a statement issued by the Russian side.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Newsweek on Friday that the “request for military assistance from Moscow could only be seen as another attempt to protect the regime after the so-called ‘elections’ that were challenged by the international community, as well as the vigilant civil society of White- To hinder Russia. “
The ministry challenged Lukashenko’s reports of a mass exodus of troops along its border with Belarus, saying “a staggering concentration of NATO troops outside Belarus’ borders simply does not match the facts on the ground.”
The statement included a blatant denial of Lukashenko’s allegations. “NATO has no military build-up in the region,” it read. “NATO posture and activities in the region are completely routine, have always been and remain strictly defensive, intended to curb any aggression against NATO allies.
“Neither Lithuania, nor NATO nor the alliance pose a threat to Belarus, and they have never done so before,” the statement continued. “Lithuania has been a member of NATO for sixteen years, and has hosted multinational exercises in a transparent manner for many years.”
SERGEI GAPON / AFP / Getty Images
Reached for comment, a NATO spokesman on Tuesday referred to a conversation between Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Polish President Andrzej Duda. The two men “agreed that Minsk must show full respect for fundamental rights” and that “the Alliance must remain vigilant and strictly defensive, ready to curb any aggression against NATO allies.”
“The Secretary-General emphasizes that NATO does not pose a threat to Belarus, and has no military build-up in the region,” the readout added. “All allies support a sovereign and independent Belarus.”
The next day, Newsweek quoted current and former U.S. officials as saying on Wednesday that Russia could use civilian justice in Belarus to establish a more sustainable security presence there. The officials agreed that NATO had no jurisdiction to intervene, because Belarus is a treaty ally of Moscow, not the 29-member defense pact in the West, which has been steadily expanding since the end of the Cold War. , the Russian sphere of influence shrinking and its shallow strategic depth.
Russia used military action to support friendly territories following changes in government over Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 – an ongoing conflict that accuses West Moscow of still fueling aid to Eastern separatists. The result is a continuing clash of interests in the Baltic and Black Sea regions, where Lukashenko on Friday claimed that NATO was trying to establish a friendly corridor leaving Belarus “the only missing part.”
