MINSK, March 7. /TASS/. The Belarusian security forces’ primary mission in the situation around an act of sabotage orchestrated by Ukrainian and US intelligence services targeting a Russian Aerospace Force A-50 AWACS aircraft based at the Machulishchy airfield near Minsk was to block the saboteur from entering Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday.

"The borders of Belarus were sealed. But we were fully aware that the Belarusian-Russian border was our main problem. We have no military units stationed there. In fact, there is no actual border between Russia and Belarus. Our primary task was to prevent his infiltration into Russia, because it would then have proven very difficult to track him down in the vast, limitless expanses of Russia," the Pul_1 Telegram channel, close to the Belarusian president’s press service, quotes him as saying.

Lukashenko stressed that "Minsk was aware of this, and so hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, military personnel from all units, were alerted to close Belarus."

"Certain actions were taken and an antiterrorism command staff was deployed under the leadership of the Belarusian KGB chief Ivan Tertel," the Belarusian leader said.

Earlier, Lukashenko announced the detention in Belarus of a Ukrainian secret service agent and his accomplices implicated in a sabotage raid targeting Russia’s A-50 plane based at the Machulishchy airfield near Minsk.

In late February, reports circulated about an attack on the Machulishchy military airfield, which reportedly caused damage to the A-50 AWACS aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Force. Belarus dismissed this as fake news, however. Later, Belarusian television showed the A-50 in good condition while moving along the runway and in flight. It was also claimed that the aircraft had "accompanied" Lukashenko's plane on the flight home to Belarus from Beijing.