MINSK, February 24. /TASS/. Belarus and Russia were not planning any war against Ukraine, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at his extraordinary session with the country’s military command.
Commenting on his talks in the morning with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko said it was his initiative to leave part of the Russian forces following the joint military drills on the southern borders of the republic.
"I stress what he [Putin] told me: You are right, they need to stay. This is another chance for distracted politicians in Ukraine to draw proper conclusions. Perhaps they will understand that it is necessary to sit at the table of negotiations and make a decision on the peace, brotherly nations must not be fighting each other," Lukashenko said. "This is what we agreed upon and not about planning any war against Ukraine."
Lukashenko stressed the Russian leader told him that such decision was feasible "for the Ukrainians, the leadership and politicians of Ukraine to once again draw conclusions and to understand that issues must be settled at the negotiations table."
He also said that Putin have informed him in detail "about the situation and, most importantly, a possible development of this situation."
"As he [Putin] said, the aim of the operation is straightforward and it is to put an end to the genocide of people in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions," Lukashenko stated.
The president of Belarus said that during his recent meeting in Moscow with Putin, he personally offered the Russian president to leave deployed a part of the Russian Armed Forces in the south of Belarus.
"Why? I am not ashamed of saying it: we were not ready to cover up the south direction under this situation, because Ukrainian forces - military forces and not border guards - were set on the move and launched maneuvers in this area," Lukashenko said.
"We all clearly saw this, but we never had troops in this area and this is why I asked to keep an insignificant part [of the Russian troops] there at the southern borders, until we replace them with our own Armed Forces," Lukashenko said.
Last week, Moscow and Minsk held the Union Resolve 2022 Russia-Belarus joint military drills. The main stage of the Union Resolve 2022 joint military drills was held at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground on Belarusian soil on February 19.
The allied forces comprised marine infantry of the Russian Pacific Fleet and aircraft of Russia’s Aerospace Force, and also troops of the Western Operational Command and aircraft of the Air Force and Air Defense Troops of the Belarusian Armed Forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.
Russia’s Defense Ministry reported later on Thursday that Russian troops were not delivering strikes against Ukrainian cities. It emphasized that Ukrainian military infrastructure was being destroyed by precision weapons.