MORE RUSSIAN TROOPS IN BELARUS, DE FACTO PERMANENTLY

23 September 2020 MORE RUSSIAN TROOPS IN BELARUS, DE FACTO PERMANENTLY

SOURCE: MIL.RU

All signs are that security-related issues, including those pertaining to the country’s military, are poised to witness ever-tightening cooperation between Russia and Belarus, prompting a decay in the latter’s sovereignty. Since Alexander Lukashenko is not keen to make concessions on anything referring to politics, economy, and the country’s political system, the military remains the sole option on the table. It is no coincidence that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Shoigu flew to Minsk roughly two days after Lukashenko’s meeting with Putin in Sochi. Soon after much was said about Russia’s expanding its military presence in Belarus. Though there are no reports on permanent military bases to be installed anytime soon, intensified joint drills and their bigger-than-ever scale is in fact tantamount to Russia’s fixed rotating military presence on Belarusian soil. Officials in Moscow and Minsk announced continuous monthly exercise in what could be the outcome of the Lukashenko-Putin talks in Sochi, and then Shoigu’s trip to Minsk.