MINSK, May 16. /TASS/. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko thanked Russia on Friday for training Belarusian military personnel on equal footing with Russian servicemen, the country’s BelTA news agency reported.
"I am very grateful to you for not just training our military specialists, not just allowing them to participate in training with you, but for treating them as equals to Russian servicemen, not as foreigners," Lukasheno said at a meeting with Russia’s visiting Defense Minister Andrey Belousov in the country’s capital of Minsk.
"They sit side by side in the classroom, learning the same things," Lukashenko continued. "This is very important, and we highly appreciate it because it represents the highest level of trust."
"After all, this is about security and defense. Russia does not separate itself from Belarus in this regard and has no such interaction with any other country. We truly value this," the Belarusian president noted.
Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said earlier on Friday that Moscow and Minsk planned to work out at the Russia-Belarus Zapad 2025 joint military exercise actions that were aimed to repel aggression against the Union State.
Speaking about the upcoming Zapad 2025 joint military exercise with Russia this fall, Lukashenko said: "We are ready for the exercise."
"We are not hiding anything from anyone. We demonstrate openness showing that this exercise is our military drill and is defensive in nature. We are not going to attack anyone, as some may think. Well, they may think whatever they want," the Belarusian president added.
"We are not going to attack anyone. But if... we have to defend not only the historical truth, but also our land, our relatives, our loved ones, our families and our Fatherland. You can be sure of that," the president of Belarus said.