BREST (dpa-AFX) – According to military observers, another group of Russian soldiers arrived in Brest in the far west of Belarus on Tuesday. According to the opposition Belarusian military observation platform “Belaruski Hayun”, the soldiers are to take part in a joint maneuver of the military alliance Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The first group reportedly arrived in the Belarusian border town with Poland on August 18.
The joint exercise of the Russian-dominated military alliance will start on September 1st. According to the Belarusian state media, around 2,500 soldiers from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will take part. Moscow makes around 300 soldiers available.
Regardless of the upcoming exercise, according to estimates by “Belaruski Hajun”, another 2,000 Russian soldiers are stationed at four bases in the country. According to Ukrainian General Serhiy Nayev, who is responsible for defending the border with Belarus, Moscow has withdrawn all ground forces from Belarus to take part in the attacks on Kupyansk and Lyman in eastern Ukraine. This information cannot be independently verified.
Russia has been waging a war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine for around 18 months. The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko has made his authoritarian country available as a deployment area for the Russian military. Kyiv sees Minsk as a war party. In the course of the tensions, Russia recently had Iskander missiles that can be equipped with nuclear warheads stationed in Belarus. Concern is also growing in the NATO countries bordering Belarus: Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have threatened to completely close their borders to the ex-Soviet republic should military incidents occur.
Meanwhile, a mined railway bridge detonated at a border crossing between Ukraine and Belarus on Tuesday. According to the Ukrainian border guard, a lightning strike is said to have been the cause of the explosion. Nobody was injured.
/DP/jha