No use deploying Russian airbase in Belarus - Defense Minister. Lukashenka still quiet
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq-GCU7SLek”][/vc_column][/vc_row]President Alyaksandr Lukashenka does not seem to have made a final decision on the deployment of a Russian airbase in Belarus. The Belarusian Defense Ministry is developing a tit-for-tat response to Poland’s ask to deploy NATO military base in the country.
“What is the point to deploy an airbase [Russian – Belsat.eu] in Belarus? There is no point yet. We believe that our neighbors, especially the newly elected President of Poland, asked NATO, and NATO agreed to deploy four bases of different kinds, including an air base, in the immediate vicinity of the borders of Belarus. And the answer is simple: perhaps, we could deploy some destruction facilities which are able to defeat these [NATO] objects in good time and in the right place? It will be much more efficient than an airbase,” Belarusian Defense Minister Andrey Raukou told in an interview with state-run television ONT on Thursday.
On October 21, Raukou met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu. After the joint collegium meeting Shoigu told reporters that Russia and Belarus would create a ‘military organisation’ for the armed defense of the Union State.
In September, Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian defense department to conduct negotiations on the deployment of a Russian air base in Belarus and authorized the ministry to sign the corresponding agreement. The document was posted on the official web portal of legal information. But shortly before the presidential election in Belarus, the head of state said that the deployment of a Russian airbase in Belarus had never been discussed…
“Our opposition has been wailing about the deployment of a Russian airbase in Belarus lately. I know nothing about such plans. I am the man in charge of making such decisions and I know nothing about such plans.We don’t need a base these days. We don’t need military air forces either. We need certain weapons. It is what I’ve been saying to Putin and earlier to Medvedev,” Lukashenka said.
Russia is very concerned about the deployment of NATO Rapid Response Forces headquarters in the Baltic countries and would-be NATO bases in Poland, but a Russian airbase in Belarus will not be good for Belarusians, military expert Alyaksandr Alesin says.
“A military facility increases the danger of war for Belarus. But in accordance with the CSTO agreements, the Union State agreement, Belarus will still have to participate in a war if Russia enters it – no matter whether there is a [Russian military] base. And NATO aircraft will attack the Belarusian army’s facilities because Belarus is an ally of Russia,” Alesin told belsat.eu.
