Belarus-Russia war game West-2017 to take place ‘regardless of pressure’ – Lukashenka
belsat.eu
14 June 2017, 16:35
The joint Belarus-Russia war game West-2017 will be held ‘regardless of any pressure’ president Alyaksandr Lukashenka said when meeting with the defense ministers of the CSTO member states on Tuesday.
“Regardless of any pressure we will stage this exercise. And we intend to arrange a large-scale and very serious exercise at that, I know that the mood in Russia is exactly the same. We are not trying to scare anyone. We don’t need someone else’s riches. This is why we are going to practice all the things that our potential competitors are practicing. We train the army and will train it to protect our territory, our state, and our nations,” state-run news agency BelTA quotes Lukashenka.
He failed to specify which countries he considered as potential competitors, but stressed that Belarus is responsible for the ‘western direction’ as part of the Union State and the CSTO.
According to the Belarusian leader, the exercise will be open and transparent. Lukashenka expressed readiness to invite all CSTO defense ministers and even ‘more than that’ to watch our capabilities of the Belarusian and Russian army.
The West-2017 war game is scheduled for September, 14-20. It will be the final stage of the joint training of the armed forces of the two countries this year.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and a number of European politicians believe that the ‘West-2017’ demonstrates the preparation of Belarus and Russia to the war with the West. In mid April, Oleksandr Turchynov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, stressed that the joint military exercise might become the preparation for an assault against Ukraine in September.
14 June 2017, 16:35
“Regardless of any pressure we will stage this exercise. And we intend to arrange a large-scale and very serious exercise at that, I know that the mood in Russia is exactly the same. We are not trying to scare anyone. We don’t need someone else’s riches. This is why we are going to practice all the things that our potential competitors are practicing. We train the army and will train it to protect our territory, our state, and our nations,” state-run news agency BelTA quotes Lukashenka.
He failed to specify which countries he considered as potential competitors, but stressed that Belarus is responsible for the ‘western direction’ as part of the Union State and the CSTO.
According to the Belarusian leader, the exercise will be open and transparent. Lukashenka expressed readiness to invite all CSTO defense ministers and even ‘more than that’ to watch our capabilities of the Belarusian and Russian army.
The West-2017 war game is scheduled for September, 14-20. It will be the final stage of the joint training of the armed forces of the two countries this year.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and a number of European politicians believe that the ‘West-2017’ demonstrates the preparation of Belarus and Russia to the war with the West. In mid April, Oleksandr Turchynov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, stressed that the joint military exercise might become the preparation for an assault against Ukraine in September.
