MINSK, November 20. /TASS/. Belarus values its military cooperation with Russia and notes a very high degree of training and preparedness of the Russian armed forces, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
According to excerpts from the interview, published by Belarusian news agency BelTA on Friday evening, the minister said his country had "a very high level of interaction with our strategic ally, the Russian Federation."
"The agreements that exist and that we are adopting now directly with the Defense Ministry and my colleague, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, are aimed at preserving peace, first and foremost," he said.
"Readiness and training levels of the Russian army definitely deserve praise and pride now. We are glad that we have such an ally. Last year forced an even tighter alliance. It turned out that we don't have friends and the neighbors are aggressive," the minister added.
Khrenin assured that Russian-Belarusian military exercises are held in a transparent manner and pose no threat to anyone.
"They are no threat to anyone. We train our army. And the president says that the army is meant to be trained. We raise our troops to the relevant training standards," the Belarusian defense minister said.
In his opinion, learning from Russia’s military experience is useful for Belarus.
"It is very important for us that the Russian army has the combat experience they willingly share with us. It is also an important component within the framework of development of military science, theory, and practice," Khrenin said.