TSAMTO, May 16. On May 16, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov was received by President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk as part of an official visit to Belarus.
"I would like to note that Russia and Belarus are not just allies. We have a common defense space, which we are strengthening, and due to the very difficult international situation, we must strengthen as soon as possible. We are doing this in three main directions," Andrei Belousov said.
The head of the Russian military department noted that the first of the directions is to increase the coordination of troops and the work of the headquarters of the two states, where the key event this year is the joint exercise Zapad–2025, which will be held simultaneously at the training grounds of Russia and Belarus.
"The second direction is the training of Belarusian military personnel in higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation," the Defense minister added.
Andrei Belousov stressed that currently more than 300 military personnel of the Republic of Belarus are being trained at universities of the Russian Ministry of Defense, where they are trained in the most modern forms of warfare, taking into account the experience of special military operations, including the use of unmanned systems.
"And the third area is our military-technical cooperation," Andrei Belousov said.
In turn, Alexander Lukashenko confirmed the readiness of the training grounds of the Republic of Belarus to conduct the joint exercise Zapad-2025.
"I want to say that we are ready for the exercises, we are not hiding anything from anyone. We are really showing openness, that these exercises are ours and are defensive in nature," Alexander Lukashenko said.
On the same day, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov held talks with Belarusian Defense Minister Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin in Minsk.
"The results of today's meeting confirmed the unity of approaches of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus on all key issues and strategies in the current situation, to assess the challenges and threats to the military security of the Union State and to take urgent joint measures to level them," Andrei Belousov said.
The head of the Russian military Department stressed that as part of this work, Russia and Belarus continue to strengthen military and military-technical cooperation, as well as improve cooperation on the joint use of armed forces to ensure the military security of the two states.
"We pay special attention to increasing the combat capabilities of the regional group of forces, joint operational and combat training. Its culmination this year will be the Belarusian-Russian strategic exercise Zapad-2025," the Russian Defense Minister noted.
He stressed that the exercises are exclusively defensive in nature. During the exercise, it is planned to work out options for joint actions to repel aggression against the Union State using the Regional Group of Forces of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation and the Coalition Group of Forces of Friendly states in several strategic areas.
In turn, the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Belarus, Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin, said that the events had made it possible to comprehensively discuss topical issues of cooperation in the military sphere and ensuring the security of the Union State.
"The meeting with the President of the Republic of Belarus demonstrated that the Belarusian head of state keeps all aspects of our relations under control, and military and military-technical cooperation is the cornerstone of interstate cooperation," stressed the head of the Belarusian defense ministry.
He also added that further steps had been agreed today to maintain and strengthen the defense potential necessary to prevent threats to military security and repel aggression in the event of its outbreak.
"Substantive joint work in this area will continue, and all agreements reached, including on the implementation of the Treaty on Security Guarantees within the framework of the Union State, have been fully implemented," Viktor Khrenin was quoted as saying by the Information and Mass Communications Department of the Russian Defense Ministry.
