MINSK, February 6. /TASS/. Kiev is seeking to aggravate the situation when speaking about Russia’s alleged plans of aggression, Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council Alexander Volfovich said on Sunday.
"Look at what is going on in Ukraine. They are openly whipping up tensions, keep on speaking about Russia’s aggression, from Belarus’ territory this time. They are alleging that Russia plans to attack Ukraine, which I think is inexpedient and improbable today," he said in an interview with the ONT television channel. In his words, various fakes are being used "to fan tensions."
"According to my information, there are some five or six strategic military advisers at Ukraine’s defense ministry. And more than 64 advisers of the operations level. Obviously, American advisers are teaching how to live, how to build the armed forces, what to do and how," Volfovich said.
Moreover, in his words, "frenzied militarization" is observed in neighboring countries. "Enormous funds are invested in armies. Let us ask the question who spends more money on defense and who is arming oneself," he said, adding that, for instance, Poland spends around 14 billion US dollars on defense. "Ukraine has targeted 15.5 billion US dollars this year, Lithuania spends 2.1% of GDP on defense and weapons, Latvia and Poland - 2.2% of GDP," he said, adding that Belarus plans to spend only 1.5% of GDP on these purposes. "We spend much less money than our neighbors," he noted.
Recently, Western and Ukrainian media outlets have been echoing claims about a possible Russian aggression against Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier slammed such statements as "empty and groundless" and their goal is to whip up tensions. He stressed that Russia doesn’t pose any threat to anyone, but did not rule out possible provocations to justify the remarks in question and warned that attempts at using force to settle the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have the most severe consequences.