Belarusian Defense Minister Viktar Khrenin has reported about the decision to send “a prepared peacekeeping company of the 103rd Airborne Brigade of Special Operations Forces from Vitsebsk to Kazakhstan”.
“Following the decision of the CSTO Collective Security Council to fulfill international and allied obligations, the Republic of Belarus is sending a Belarusian military contingent to participate in settlement of a crisis in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which can lead to the violation of the constitutional order, loss of sovereignty and independence,” Khrenin said.
Video of the Defense Ministry of Belarus:
According to him, the unit has undergone a full range of training and is prepared to perform such tasks. It is staffed only by contract servicemen.
“Tonight this unit made a march to the Machulishchy airfield area, where it was loaded onto aircraft of the Russian Federation. Now there are heading for the destination,” the minister stressed.
According to Belsat, the military aircraft IL-76 took off from Machulishchy at about 15:10. Its flight was not shown on the FlightRadar site.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on the arrival of the first units of the CSTO mission in Kazakhstan.
Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s office, the Coordinating Council, and the People’s Anti-Crisis Management have made a joint statement about the inadmissibility of sending Belarusian troops to operations abroad.
In their opinion, “sending troops as well as any other military assistance to the incumbent government of Kazakhstan creates a dangerous precedent for foreign armed interference in internal political conflicts.”
