MINSK, 16 Sep-RIA Novosti. The strengthening of NATO's military presence near the western borders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) creates conditions for military provocations and incidents, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday.
Lukashenka is taking part in the CSTO summit in Dushanbe, the press service of the president provides details on his official website.
"A dangerous trend is the aggravation of the situation on the western borders of the CSTO. The US military presence in Eastern Europe is expanding, the combat capabilities of the NATO coalition formations are increasing… All this creates conditions for military provocations and incidents near our borders, " Lukashenko said.
In particular, the Belarusian leader drew attention to the fact that this year the North Atlantic Alliance held a series of exercises in the Baltic States and Ukraine, and only over the past five years their number has more than doubled - up to 90 major exercises a year, and the number of troops involved - from 60 thousand to 110 thousand soldiers.
"At the same time, our neighbors - the Baltic States, Poland and Ukraine - react very nervously to the planned Belarusian-Russian exercise "West-2021". They have actually ended, and the hubbub from the territory of the West is still spreading around the world. Although these exercises have an exclusively defensive orientation, " Lukashenko said.
