WASHINGTON, January 19. /TASS/. The upcoming joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises may allow Russia to attack Ukraine from the north, a senior US State Department official said at a briefing.
"The reports of Russian troop movements towards Belarus, which <...> are supposedly under the auspices of regularly scheduled joint military exercises, are concerning," she pointed out. "The timing is notable and of course raises concerns that Russia could intend to station troops in Belarus under the guise of joint military exercises in order potentially to attack Ukraine from the north. I believe Belarus’ complicity in such an attack would be completely unacceptable to Belarusians, and to many inside the regime, as well as to us and our allies and partners. And we've made our concerns known to the Belarusian authorities privately," the diplomat added.
According to her, a normal exercise requires notification 42 days in advance if it is about 9,000 troops, but at 13,000, it requires international observers. "That's what normal looks like, what this is is something entirely different," the official noted.
"There are many troubling things happening in Belarus right now. And there can be no doubt about Belarus his role as an increasingly destabilizing actor in the region," the senior Department of State official stressed.
The US authorities are concerned that draft constitutional amendments may indicate Belarus’ plans to host Russia’s conventional and nuclear weapons, she noted.
"The proposed changes to the constitution include language that could be interpreted as paving the way for Russia to garrison forces on Belarusian territory," she said. "These draft constitutional changes may indicate Belrus’ plans to allow both Russian conventional and nuclear forces to be stationed on its territory," the diplomat added.
Belarus’ BelTA news agency reported on Tuesday that the country's President Alexander Lukashenko had confirmed that a nationwide constitutional referendum would take place in February. A draft of the country’s amended constitution was released on December 27. Amendments to the constitution will clarify the powers of the head of state, the government and parliament. In addition, the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly will receive additional powers.
"The discussion about nuclear weapons in Belarus is one that was started by Lukashenko in November," the US Department of State official said, adding that "we should all pay attention" to such statements.
Chief of the Belarusian Defense Ministry’s International Military Cooperation Department Oleg Voinov said at a briefing for military attaches on Tuesday that the Union Resolve 2022 Belarusian-Russian drills would take place in Belarus on February 10-20 as part of an inspection of the Union State’s response forces.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said earlier that Russia had explained to the US during the recent consultations in Geneva that Moscow did not have any intention of attacking Ukraine. He added that Russia would continue to hold military exercises on its territory despite NATO’s objections.