Russia’s Guard Troops Service and Belarus’ Interior Ministry announce cooperation
Negotiations on concluding a cooperation agreement are to start between Rosgvardiya (Russia’s Federal National Guard Troops Service) and the Interior Ministry of Belarus.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed the corresponding decree on October, 6. A day later, it was published on the Russian portal of legal information.
Such proposal was presented by Rosgvardiya; it was supported by the Russian Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Foreign Ministry.
In late August, Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s forming a reserve force of law enforcement officers to ‘help’ Belarus if necessary. According to him, Russian forces will not be used ‘until the extremist elements in Belarus, under the guise of political slogans, cross the border, start to simply rob people, start burning cars, houses, banks, try to seize administrative buildings and so on’.
In the course of the upcoming talks, representatives of Russia and Belarus are expected to discuss all aspects of the would-be cooperation in detail, e.g. in what case Russia should come to assistance, what forces are to be involved and how rapidly, what powers the guards will be granted, etc. All agreements must be officially documented at the state level, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports.
