June 26, Pozirk. Belarusian Defense Minister Viktar Chrenin has called for building up defense capabilities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, at a ministerial meeting in China’s Qingdao today.
He said measures to strengthen regional security should include joint resistance to color revolutions, information warfare, cyberattacks, extremism, terrorism and separatism, according to the defense ministry.
In an apparent reference to the West, the minister said some countries and coalitions set out on the path to militarization, threatening the use of increased combat potential “to realize political ambitions.”
Chrenin proposed building new “stability mechanisms” on the principle of not using military force for political ends, although Belarus’ key ally, SCO member Russia violated this principle three years ago by invading Ukraine in February 2022.
Chrenin also said respect for national interests and equality of sovereign nations should be at the basis of stability. However, the Russian leadership shows no signs of these when denying the existence of the Ukrainian people and trying to dismantle the Ukrainian state.
On February 24, 2022, Russia started a full-scale war against Ukraine. Alaksandar Łukašenka’s regime provided Russian troops with territory to attack the neighboring country in the winter and spring of 2022. Russians also shelled Ukrainian cities from Belarus for months, while Russian soldiers have been treated in Belarusian hospitals.
Investigative journalists reported that nearly 300 Belarusian companies are involved in producing goods for Russia’s military-industrial complex.
