MINSK, January 31. /TASS/. Aircraft of Regional Group of Forces has rehearsed striking troops moving across the border of the Union State and footholds near the border, Alexander Volfovich, State Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council said on Tuesday.
"The exercises have been planned to address tactical episodes that could arise, such as the crossing of the state border by an illegal armed group, a passage of vehicles, the establishment of some offensive footholds near the border of the Republic of Belarus and striking control posts, columns of advancing vehicles. So, the joint aircraft groups of aviation and helicopters executed the goals of striking potential groups that could move across the state border," he said in a video that was released by the Belarusian Defense Ministry.
The State Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council reiterated that the exercises of the aviation component of the Regional Group of Forces "has a defensive nature, unlike those exercises" that take place on the adjacent territory. Earlier on Tuesday, during the observation of the exercises at the Ruzhansky training ground Volfovich said the military-political situation that is developing near the Belarusian borders is difficult. For example, he said that the NATO grouping in Eastern Europe numbers about 34,000 troops, and the aviation group of the US and its allies in Europe includes more than 2,200 combat aircraft, with more than 140 of them in Poland and the Baltic countries.
The exercises of the regional group’s aviation units, which seek to improve interoperability in the performance of combat training missions, is taking place in Belarus from January 16 to February 1. The missions that are being practiced include conducting aerial reconnaissance, joint patrolling along the state border, air support, defeating air defense systems and control posts of a hypothetical enemy, landing tactical airborne troops, delivering cargo and evacuating the wounded. All airfields and training grounds of the Air Force and Air Defense Forces of Belarus are involved in the exercise.
On October 10, 2022, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko announced the start of the formation of a regional group of forces, mostly comprising Belarusian servicemen, as part of agreements with Moscow. Minsk announced the arrival of the first trains with Russian servicemen in the republic in mid-October. Russian President Vladimir Putin, following talks with Lukashenko that were held in Minsk on December 19, said that Moscow and Minsk will continue to hold joint exercises and other combat training events, including as part of the regional group of forces. The Belarusian Defense Ministry said in early January the build-up of the group continued and it was ready to perform missions to protect the Union State.