BELARUS (Washington Insider Magazine) – On Thursday, Russia and Belarus launched ten days of joint military training as part of ongoing diplomatic attempts to resolve the tension over suspicions that the Kremlin is contemplating an invasion into Ukrainian territory.
The military drills, dubbed “Allied Resolve-2022,” began in Belarus on Thursday and will finish on February 20, according to a statement released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Thursday.
Last Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia’s deployment into Belarus would be the largest ever since the Cold War, with an estimated 30,000 combat troops, Spetsnaz special operations forces, Iskander dual-capable missiles, fighter jets including SU-35 and S-400 air defense systems.
The US has also raised alarm over Russia’s army buildup in Belarus, a key ally of Russia’s.
Despite Moscow’s enormous force buildup in the region, Russia has consistently denied plans to strike Ukraine. According to senior US sources familiar with Washington’s current intelligence assessments, the Kremlin has gathered 70 percent of the military people and weaponry needed for a full-scale attack on Ukraine’s borders.
The drills have been cranked up, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, since both Russia and Belarus face “unprecedented threats” from NATO.
When asked about the aim and political significance of the drills, Peskov stated that both nations saw NATO as an increasing danger.
The drills begin on the same day as diplomatic discussions aimed at resolving the issue are scheduled to take place. A new round of negotiations between the nations in the so-called Normandy Format, according to French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, would be a “good sign,” he said in an interview on Thursday.
According to CNN, the Normandy Format is a four-way dialogue between officials from France, Ukraine, Russia, and Germany that has been attempting to negotiate peace in eastern Ukraine since 2014.
Advisors from all four nations will meet in Berlin on Thursday to examine the current situation in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, according to Downing Street, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will see NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Thursday before traveling to Poland to meet Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and President Andrzej Duda.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss arrived in Moscow on Thursday, where she met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who noted that ties between the UK and Russia were “at their lowest level in recent years.”
