Vladimir Putin and Alyaksandr Lukashenka have approved the new version of the military doctrine of the Union State of Belarus and Russia back in November 2021. However, the document’s content became available only recently, reports the Russian newspaper Kommersant. It replaces the 2001 doctrine and the 1998 decision of the Supreme Council of the Union of Belarus and Russia “On the concept of a joint defense policy.”
According to Kommersant, the new doctrine lists many more factors negatively influencing the two countries’ security.
The new doctrine doesn’t say directly that nuclear weapons could be deployed in Belarus, but it doesn’t say anything about a ban on it either.
The text of the new doctrine is posted on the site of the Standing Committee of the Union State in the “Normative legal acts” section.
The 19-page document states that “the military-political situation surrounding the Union State is characterized by growing negative processes in global and regional security, caused by both geopolitical rivalries between the leading powers of the world and the clash of interests of individual states (a coalition of states). Among the negative factors in the doctrine are:
– attempts to change value orientations and development models, discrediting cultures, religions and civilizations, falsification of history, contributing to the violation of spiritual and moral bonds of kindred peoples;
– opposition on the part of some international organizations and foreign states to the development of the Union State, the CSTO, as well as other integration formations with the participation of Belarus and Russia;
– the presence of hotbeds of military conflicts near the borders of the Union State
– a build-up of NATO’s force potential on the external border of the Union State
– the use of force in military conflicts combined with political, financial, economic, information, and other forms of struggle.
Members of the Union State consider peacetime military security as the main measures to ensure military security:
– identification, assessment, and forecasting of military dangers and threats, as well as the exchange of information on factors of the military and political situation affecting military security;
– formation and implementation of a coordinated military policy, construction, and development of a regional grouping of troops (RGT);
– joint use of military and transport infrastructure in the interests of RGT;
– formation of a common border space;
– training of government agencies, local government, organizations, and population to meet the challenges of territorial and civil defense.
For wartime, there are provisions for:
– a set of measures for the armed defense of the Union State;
– joint decisions to repel an attack;
– the use of the capabilities of international organizations to compel the aggressor to stop military action.
The document emphasizes that “Russian nuclear weapons will remain an important factor in preventing the outbreak of nuclear military conflicts and military conflicts involving conventional means of destruction.”
belsat.eu
