Minsk. February 27. INTERFAX - The Belarusian Defense Ministry has officially stated that the Belarusian military is not taking part in a special military operation in the Donbass.
"The information disseminated on the Internet about the participation of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus in the operation conducted in the Donbas does not correspond to reality," said Leonid Kasinsky, Assistant to the Minister of Defense for Ideological Work in the Armed Forces, head of the Main Department of Ideological Work of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Major General. A video with an official statement was published on Sunday by the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus.
"Formations and military units of the Republic of Belarus are located at permanent deployment points, they carry out the training plan of the Armed Forces in accordance with their purpose," Kasinsky stressed.
"Part of the forces and means have been withdrawn to strengthen the southern border, in order to exclude the penetration of sabotage and reconnaissance groups from the territory of Ukraine, as well as to exclude the supply of weapons and ammunition," he added.
Earlier on Sunday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced the absence of Belarusian troops in Ukraine.
"There is not a single one of our soldiers there. I said this to Macron (the French president - IF) yesterday. I told him that not a single soldier, ... there is not a single Belarusian patron there," Lukashenko said after voting in a referendum on Sunday in Minsk. He answered journalists' questions on live television.