NEW YORK, February 4. /TASS/. Plans of holding joint Russian-Belarusian exercises in the south of the republic were announced beforehand and should not be a source of concern for anybody, Russian Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov has told CNN in an interview.

"If you studied geography of the area, actually the southern part of Belarus close to the Ukrainian border is very swampy area which is hardly fitting for certain active engagement of tanks and other heavy weaponry. So I don't see any reason for those exercises, that had been previously announced and will be conducted according to plan, to be a source of concern to anybody," he said.

Currently, an inspection of the Union State’s response forces is taking place. It will culminate with the Union Resolve 2022 military exercise, which will take place between February 10 and 20 in Belarus. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has arrived in Minsk, where he will inspect the performance of both countries' armed forces together with his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin.