Integration tactical maneuvers are to take place on August 28-31 in Hrodna region, the Belarusian Defence Ministry reported on Friday. There are plans to redeploy military equipment.
“In the course of the exercise, loads of military equipment are to be moved, which may impede traffic on public roads,” the statement reads.
The combined group includes mechanised, armoured, airborne, artillery, engineering troops, as well as drones and electronic warfare units.
According to the MoD, the goals are ‘to assess the capabilities and readiness of military units as intended in dynamically changing conditions, in the night and day, as well as to improve combat skills’.
Earlier, president Alyaksandr Lukashenka ordered top brass to reinforce troops in Hrodna direction (it is the western part of the country, closer to the Belarusian-EU border), referring to the alleged threat of aggression from NATO countries, including Poland and Lithuania. In his opinion, Western countries, especially Poland, are dreaming of occupying Hrodna region.
“I am a realist. They won’t give us a quiet life. Even if they calm down now, they’ll crawl out of their holes like rats after a while. They’re already run by strangers. They see the western borders of Belarus here near Minsk, like in 1939. It’s not going to happen. We’ll all become the Brest Fortress, but we won’t give up the country,” Lukashenka said on August, 16.
On Thursday, Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz discussed the issue with Belarusian Ambassador Uladzimir Chushau.
“There is no consent in Poland to this kind of narrative and such accusations. We are surprised, disappointed and conserned about the words spoken by the Belarusian president. We consider this narrative totally unfounded and based on false and harmful premises. There is no debate about any border shifts in Poland,” the top diplomat said in the wake of the meeting.
