Belarus’ riot police, internal troops training near Ukrainian border

September 11, Pozirk. Interior Minister Ivan Kubrakoŭ is in charge of elite police units’ training in suppressing illegal armed groups being held in Stolin, 15 kilometers off the border with Ukraine.

Kubrakoŭ said before the drill that his ministry analyzed a recent Ukrainian troops incursion into Russia’s Kursk province.

“Due to the tension at Belarus’ southern border, special riot police and internal troops units have been deployed to the border area,” the interior ministry’s press office quoted him as saying.

“The main task is to prevent an enemy incursion into our settlements and ensure safety of our citizens.”

The ministry has organized cooperation between unit commanders, border troops and regional and district executive committee heads, he added.

Piotr Parchomčyk, chairman of the Brest Regional Executive Committee, and Ivan Krupko, his Homiel region counterpart, are observing the training together with Internal Troops Commander Mikałaj Karpiankoŭ.

It is part of the Stolin-2024 exercise.

Three days earlier, the Security Council state secretary, Alaksandar Valfovič, told ONT that Ukraine had kept a 14,000-strong force near the Belarusian border in the last two years.

Belarus’ decision to reinforce the southern operational sector is absolutely justified, he added.