Belarus grows increasingly concerned about NATO activity near border
17:02, 18 May
There are risks resulting from military activity along Belarus' borders, BelTA learned from State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Aleksandr Volfovich on 18 May.
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It was one of the matters discussed during the latest session of the Security Council.
According to the source, the Security Council session began with a discussion about questions and conclusions from an evaluation of the current military, political, and strategic situation outside Belarus' borders. “Unfortunately, the situation constantly causes rising tensions,” Aleksandr Volfovich said. “The events the armed forces of neighboring countries carry out in the territory of neighboring countries, primarily command and combat training under the aegis of the USA and the NATO bloc, are the reason. We cannot but be alarmed by it.”
The intensity and the number of events and exercises taking place in the neighboring countries cause certain military risks, the official said. Not only deep in the neighboring countries but close to Belarus' borders. The last seven days saw 25 flights of manned and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft along Belarus' borders, the state secretary noted.
In his words, actions of special forces were registered in Poland's territory in the direction of Brest. They examined approaches to the state border and its passability. “An evaluation. Intelligence gathering. Certainly, all of it cannot but cause concern,” Aleksandr Volfovich noted.
The official said that Belarusian government agencies track all these matters and analyze them. Adequate response measures are being worked out. They are primarily related to the protection and reinforcement of the state border, work at border checkpoints, reinforcement of air defense duty units, and other measures meant to ensure the country's military security.
As he answered additional questions from reporters, the official specified that the number of NATO's primary deployment troops in the territory of neighboring countries increased from 25,000 to 40,000 in roughly speaking the last five years. They are deployed in Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. It takes about six hours for these forces to get ready for combat missions. And even less than that taking into account a battalion tactical group, which is located in the military exercise area Pabrade in Lithuania 15km away from the Belarusian border. Apart from that, up to 10 military aircraft are always ready for liftoff and combat missions.
