MOSCOW (Reuters) – Moscow is moving troops to Belarus amid growing fears in the West of a Russian attack on Ukraine.
According to the Minsk government on Monday, the Russian armed forces are to start joint maneuvers with their own troops in February. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced that the “Allied Resolve” exercise would be carried out in the west on the border between NATO members Poland and Lithuania and in the south on the border with Ukraine.
The military asked the president to announce an exact date for the maneuvers. “Then we won’t be accused of assembling troops anywhere, as if we were preparing for war,” he said, alluding to concerns in the United States and European countries over a feared attack by Russia. Russia has massed around 100,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine. The West fears an invasion, which the government in Moscow rejects.