Minsk. February 21. INTERFAX - Units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will return to their permanent deployment points only when there is an objective need for it, Major General Viktor Gulevich, chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, said at a briefing for military attaches on Monday.
"Due to the increase in military activity near the external borders of the Union State and the aggravation of the situation in the Donbass, the Presidents of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation decided to continue checking the reaction forces of the Union State," Gulevich said at a briefing dedicated to the Day of Defenders of the Fatherland and the Armed Forces.
"The units of the Russian Armed Forces will return to their permanent locations only when there is an objective need for this, and when we determine it ourselves. This is purely our internal business," he stressed.
The head of the Belarusian General Staff noted that "to a large extent it will also depend on our Western colleagues."
"The forces and means that were deployed in the Eastern European region, including near the state border of the Republic of Belarus, are one of the factors influencing the further development of the situation," Gulevich said.
"Therefore, the Republic of Belarus has the right to demand the withdrawal of the created groups of US troops and individual NATO member countries from the borders of the Republic of Belarus and the Union State and to ensure the control of the withdrawal of troops by verification measures," the head of the Belarusian General Staff said.
On February 10, Russia and Belarus began major maneuvers "Allied Resolve - 2022". The exercises in Belarus, to which Russia has transferred a number of units and subunits of the Eastern Military District, were supposed to last until February 20. Moscow and Minsk stated that the Russian military would return to their permanent deployment points after the exercises.
However, on Sunday, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said that the presidents of Belarus and Russia decided to continue checking the reaction forces of the Union State due to the increase in military activity at the external borders of the Union State and the aggravation of the situation in the Donbass.
