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Belarusian army brigade launches unit cohesion measures within regional group of forces

On October 15, 2022, the Belarusian Defense Ministry announced the arrival of the first military trains with Russian troops in the republic

MINSK, January 24. /TASS/. Units of the Belarusian mechanized brigade stationed in Grodno launched unit cohesion measures within the Belarus-Russia joint regional group of forces, the republic’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"As part of a combat readiness inspection and interoperability measures for the Belarus-Russia joint regional group of forces, units of the 6th separate Guards mechanized brigade have begun accomplishing assigned missions," the ministry said in a statement.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry reported on January 24 that units of the 11th separate mechanized brigade stationed in Slonim in the Grodno Region had begun bringing long-storage military equipment back to service as part of interoperability measures within the joint regional battlegroup.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on October 10, 2022 that Belarus and Russia had begun deploying a regional group of forces mostly consisting of Belarusian military personnel. As the Belarusian leader pointed out, the decision to deploy the joint group of forces had been made during talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and was prompted by the escalation on the western borders of the Belarus-Russia Union State.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry announced on October 15, 2022, the arrival of the first military trains with Russian troops in the republic. As the ministry specified, the Russian military contingent in the joint regional group of forces would total about 9,000 personnel and there were plans to deploy about 170 tanks, as many as 200 armored combat vehicles and 100 artillery guns and mortars to Belarus from Russia.

President Putin announced on December 19, 2022, following talks with his Belarusian counterpart Lukashenko in the capital of Belarus that Moscow and Minsk would continue the practice of joint drills and other combat training measures, including as part of the joint group of forces.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry reported in early January 2023 that measures continued to beef up the regional group of forces and the designated troops were ready for accomplishing the objectives of defending the Belarus-Russia Union State.

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