Belarus has been preparing for war in the last 25 years, Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, has claimed.
But Lukashenko denied that mobilization similar to its neighboring Russia or that he intends to take the initiative. He said there won’t be a war, “if they don’t want to fight us.”
BelTA news agency reports Lukashenko emphasing that Belarusian military would only respond to potential threats – “What else could we do?” – and ruled out any mention of “war” or covert recruiting of citizens.
The only thing they do is a routine check of military records, he continued, “Give me one case where a person has been summoned to an enlistment office, handed a rifle, and assigned to an army unit.” On a visit to a training facility, he continued, “We have been doing it for years.
The coordinated military deployment of Belarusian and Russian forces has raised questions about the Lukashenko regime’s commitment to the conflict in Ukraine that its main partner, Russian President Vladimir Putin, has started.
Though the Third World War had “never been so close,” according to Lukashenko, he did not think it will occur. He cautioned that it “may result in the ruin of everyone and everything.”
