‘Appropriate steps’ needed as response to NATO actions near Belarus border – Deputy FM
Appropriate steps should be taken in response to NATO starting activities close to the Belarusian border, Belarusian Deputy Foreign minister Yauhen Shastakou said in an interview with Cuban news agency Prensa Latina.
According to the diplomat, the world is facing ‘the threat of destabilization of the fragile security architecture in the whole European region’, and Belarus which has its own interests in both the East and the West, is ‘not interested in the aggravation of the situation’.
“We cannot welcome the actions being carried out by NATO itself or under the auspices of NATO near our borders – we have over 1,200 km of common border line with NATO member countries – as well as building up appropriate infrastructure, although at the moment we do not consider it as a direct military threat. This is a potential challenge for the Union State of Belarus and Russia, which demands appropriate measures of reaction,” Shastakou, who was on a working visit to Havana in early June, told Prensa Latina.
Four NATO battalion combat teams will be stationed in Poland and the Baltic States on a rotational basis, Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in late May. The minister stressed that the decision had already been taken but talks were still under way on technical details. He also added that one of the teams would be stationed in Poland and the remaining three in the Baltic States.
Moreover, on June 7, Anakonda 2016 war game which will bring more than 25,000 service members from 24 NATO and partner nations together is to start in Poland.
