MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. Provocations by the Ukrainian side with regard to Belarus will receive an appropriate response in accordance with the military doctrine of the Union State, Alexey Polishchuk, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second CIS Department, said in an interview with TASS.
"In accordance with the military doctrine of the Union State, external aggression against Belarus will be viewed by Russia as an encroachment on the shared Union territory," the diplomat stressed. "Any provocation by the Ukrainian side will receive an appropriate response," he added.
Polishchuk reiterated that currently, a joint regional group of forces, modern Russian defense systems and strategic nuclear weapons have been deployed in Belarus. "They are designated to assist the Belarusian Armed Forces in ensuring the security of western borders of the Union State and CSTO," he added.