Belarus can mobilize 1.5 million people – top security official

April 30, BPN. “The whole complex – the military, the police, the State Security Committee, the border guards, the territorial defense and people’s volunteer corps – will make up a total of about 1.5 million people, who will be defending their country with arms in their hands if necessary,” said Security Council head Alaksandr Valfovič.

“The military and political situation is turbulent, both in the world and around the Republic of Belarus,” he said, commenting on the combat readiness check launched in the Armed Forces on April 3. “We should hold these events in order to prevent this boiling point from turning into an explosion point.”

“To ensure peace and security, we should first of all keep all forces and means of the national security system combat-ready, in other words, all structures of the state’s military organization,” Valfovič said, as quoted by the defense ministry’s press office on April 29.

Those who have been drafted from the reserve and “are in the trenches … understand what they’ve been drafted for,” he said. “If necessary, the whole people would have to stand up to defend its land.”

Alaksandr Łukašenka, who had repeatedly claimed that Ukraine and NATO were planning to attack the territory he controls, toned down his rhetoric during a trip to Vietka, Homiel region, two days ago: “No-one is going to attack us, including the Ukrainians. Even the westerners I meet with tell me: ‘Alaksandr Ryhoravič, Mr. President, neither the Ukrainians nor the Poles are going to attack you.'”