Defense official concerned about military threats to Belarus

February 21, BPN. Valeryj Ravienka, an aide to the defense minister, has told foreign military attachés that Belarus faces “direct threats to military security.”

“These threats are connected with the accelerated large-scale militarization of the European continent and the gradual build-up of foreign military presence near our borders,” the defense ministry’s press office quoted him as saying.

Over 22,000 NATO soldiers are stationed in Poland and the Baltic states, Ravienka said. He noted that some 60,000 US soldiers equipped with state-of-the-art attack weaponry are permanently stationed in Europe in addition to about 34,000 NATO soldiers deployed to Eastern Europe to defend NATO’s eastern flanks.

NATO can use these troops to rapidly form battle groups for use “in the Belarusian direction,” the official noted.

The military and political situation around Belarus and in the region started to aggravate in 2022 with “extremely negative trends” being observed in 2023, he stressed.