Russia and Belarus are conducting another week of joint military exercises, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, the latest sign of cooperation between the neighboring allies amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“During the week, military representatives of the two countries will exercise joint planning for the use of troops based on prior experience of armed conflicts in recent years,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the training is aimed at improving the compatibility of the two armies and is part of the preparations for the joint Union Shield 2023 exercise to be organized by the two countries in Russia in September.
The announcement of the new exercise comes as Russian and Belarusian aviation combat units continue to conduct training missions during joint flight and tactical exercises of the two countries’ air forces.
The exercise is being held at the Ruzansky training ground in Belarus, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) north of the border with Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed a plan to set up a joint military training center with Belarus, according to Agence France-Presse.
In a decree published on Tuesday, Putin tasked the defense and foreign ministers to negotiate with Belarus and sign an agreement on setting up the facilities, AFP reported.
The document did not specify where they would be based.
Some context: One announcement A statement by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko in October that his country and Russia would form a joint regional force raised alarm bells in Kyiv.
The last time the army of Belarus and Russia held a joint exercise, in February Last year, many of those Russian forces went on to cross the Ukrainian border in their ill-fated drive toward the capital.
But Western officials, speaking to media on the background this week, expressed skepticism that Russia could launch an invasion of Belarus in the coming months.
The presence of Russian troops, however, would prompt Ukraine to deploy its troops in that direction “to remove that potential risk,” officials said, even though they insisted it was “extremely unlikely”. that Belarus “will be the pivot going forward” for the next several months.