The head of the delegation on military security and arms control, Konstantin Gavrilov, stressed that "we are talking about planned planned exercises"
VIENNA, November 17th. /tass/. Russia has conducted planned strategic aviation exercises in the skies over Belarus, which are not directed against third countries and are not related to the crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border. This was stated on Wednesday by Konstantin Gavrilov, head of the Russian delegation to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, to the participants of the OSCE Forum on Security Cooperation.
"There are hysterical cries that allegedly this activity is connected with the recent crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border. We are talking about planned, I stress, planned exercises in accordance with bilateral agreements, in compliance with all international legal requirements. They are not directed against third countries," Gavrilov said.
According to him, such exercises were suspended in the 1990s - early 2000s, and Russia was forced to return to this practice by the provocative military activities of the United States and NATO on the "eastern flank". "In order to ensure its national interests and security interests, Russia will continue to conduct relevant exercises both on its territory and jointly with Belarusian friends, whether our Western colleagues like it or not," the head of the Russian delegation stressed.
On November 11, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that two Tu-160 strategic bombers carried out patrols over Belarus accompanied by Su-30SM fighters of the Belarusian Air Force. In the autumn of 2021, the migration crisis also escalated on the border of Belarus and Poland.
