Putin told Łukašenka yesterday that Shoigu would visit to discuss defense

December 3, BPN. Alaksandr Łukašenka said that Vladimir Putin had informed him about Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu’s upcoming visit to Minsk during a telephone conversation on December 2.

State-linked media disseminated a video clip of Łukašenka’s meeting with Shoigu in the Belarusian capital on December 3.

“You know that he called me yesterday,” Łukašenka told Shoigu.

“He and I had a very long discussion about the situation around Belarus and Russia. He said you would be here, and we would continue this discussion and work out a common position on our further actions to protect our territorial integrity,” he added.

Łukašenka said Belarus would do everything in line with its publicly-available agreements with Russia.

Earlier that day, the Belarusian defense ministry said Shoigu had arrived at the Mačuliščy airfield near the capital. He then met with Defense Minister Viktar Chrenin to sign a protocol amending the 1997 agreement “on joint provision of regional security in the military sphere,” it said.

On October 15, the defense ministry said that first trains carrying Russian troops as part of the joint regional group of forces arrived in Belarus. The regional group was formed to enhance Union State border security, it said. “This decision was dictated by ongoing activity in the border areas,” it added.

On February 24, Russia launched a full-scale war against the Ukrainian people. The authorities in Minsk deny that Belarusian troops participate in hostilities. At the same time, the territory of Belarus was actively used by the Russians to attack Ukraine at the outset of the invasion and in later periods.