Muraveyko: Minsk will consider statements about preparations for an attack a provocation
MINSK, March 19 – RIA Novosti. Pavel Muraveyko, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and First Deputy Minister of Defense of Belarus, said that Minsk would consider as a provocation all insinuations that the comprehensive exercise with the troops of the Western Operational Command held from March 19 to 25 was allegedly preparation for an attack.
"Today, as part of a surprise check of the combat readiness of the armed forces, we are starting a comprehensive exercise with the troops of the Western Operational Command under my leadership. I want to immediately warn our western and southern neighbors: the locations of the exercises are located at a considerable distance from the state border, and all the insinuations that the Republic of Belarus is preparing to attack any of the neighboring countries are nothing more than a provocation and do not correspond to reality," Muraveiko said.
He stressed that the exercise is one of the main phases of a comprehensive audit, it is exclusively defensive in nature.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Defense, a comprehensive exercise with the troops of the Western Operational Command is being conducted from March 19 to March 25 as part of a surprise inspection of the army. On January 26, the Ministry of Defense of Belarus announced an inspection of the combat readiness of military units and units of the armed forces, at the final stage of which it was planned to conduct a comprehensive exercise at various training grounds and terrain areas.
The Ministry of Defense quoted Muraveiko as saying that the concept of the exercise was based on the most modern military and political situation, as well as achievements in the art of war and trends in warfare in modern military conflicts.
At the first stage of the exercise, issues of planning, preparation and equipment of areas for conducting a defensive operation will be worked out, at the second stage, issues of managing formations and military units during combat operations will be considered.
Muraveyko drew attention to the fact that the exercise is being conducted at training grounds and areas of the Brest and Minsk regions, as close as possible to the landscape of Belarus, using natural terrain folds. "We plan to work out the preparation of defensive lines and positions based on resistance nodes, sections of barriers, while maximizing the use of the local industrial and administrative base," he said.
The First Deputy Minister of Defense of Belarus noted that it is planned to work out the most modern methods of using troops and weapons of destruction: unmanned aerial vehicles, electronic warfare and information warfare systems, counter-battery warfare, long-range shooting. "It is possible that as part of the active stage of the exercise, active actions of mechanized and tank units will be practiced to combat illegal armed formations, sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the "enemy," as well as repelling possible attacks and active maneuver," he added.
