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West’s pressure drove Moscow, Minsk into new military doctrine, says Russian defense chief

Sergey Shoigu noted that defense ministries of both countries moved over to planning bilateral military cooperation based on a five-year strategic partnership program

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense Ministry's press service/TASS

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu

© Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense Ministry's press service/TASS

MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. Military threats, combined with political and economic pressure from Western countries have forced Russia and Belarus to take reciprocal measures, and one of them is the Union State's new Military Doctrine, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu reported on Wednesday.

"Apart from military threats, we continue to face political and economic pressure against our countries from the so-called collective West. Under the present conditions, we are compelled to take reciprocal measures," Shoigu said on Wednesday at a joint board of the Defense Ministries of Russia and Belarus.

According to him, one of these measures is the Union State's new Military Doctrine, which "is prepared and planned to be adopted soon at the next meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State," Shoigu said.

He noted that defense ministries of both countries moved over to planning bilateral military cooperation based on a five-year strategic partnership program. The scale of training of troops and the command authority is widening, Shoigu noted.

"In September, we conducted the Zapad 2021 joint strategic exercises. We will carry out actions within the framework of the CSTO (the Collective Security Treaty Organization). The CSTO’s Collective Rapid Response Force is currently conducting the Interaction 2021 joint maneuvers in Tajikistan. In September for the first time, Belarusian servicemen took part in the Peace Mission 2021 counter-terror command and staff drills of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)," the minister concluded.

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