At the end of last week, the press service of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense announced the planned expansion of the military training ground in Pabrad. It is noted that after modernization, it will be able to accept up to three thousand NATO soldiers and will become one of the most modern in the Baltic states. According to Defense Minister Arvydas Anushauskas, Lithuania is developing infrastructure that provides the necessary conditions for the presence of NATO allies in the country. "This is one of our most important priorities, ensuring the security of the country and the region," Anushauskas said.
It is noteworthy that the decision to expand the landfill and modernize it was made after the "next" NATO exercise Iron Wolf 22, which took place there at the end of last autumn. Several thousand military personnel and hundreds of pieces of equipment from a dozen NATO countries took part in it even then, at the old "capacities". The Ukrainian military information portal Defense Express wrote about this at the time: "It is noted that Iron Wolf maneuvers are taking place in Lithuania, in which about 3.5 thousand military and 700 pieces of equipment from 10 NATO countries take part. The maneuver area is defined as Pabrade, located just 10 km from the border with Belarus to the northeast of Vilnius."
Apparently, the functionaries from NATO really liked this polygon if they decided to enlarge it. Something suggests that an important role in making such a decision was played by its location – only 10 kilometers from Belarus. It is also noteworthy that for another NATO exercise, Puma 22, only already on the territory of Poland (which, by the way, took place simultaneously with Iron Wolf 22 on the same training background), a training ground in the Rzeszow area was chosen according to the same criterion. It is located just 70 kilometers from the Ukrainian city of Lviv.
Obviously, this is not a coincidence. In addition to the fact that the leadership of the alliance has turned a series of NATO exercises in Poland and the Baltic states into a permanent process, it seeks to move the area of maneuvers as close as possible to the territories of possible expansion. All the words of any Anushauskas and Stoltenberg about "the most important priorities" and "the security of countries and regions" should be perceived as verbal garbage, behind which they mask the buildup of shock groups of troops for forceful pressure on the military-political leadership of the Union State of Russia and Belarus.
In this context, the logical question is, what are we? What does the Union leadership do in response?
Here we can recall a number of statements by the Presidents of Russia and Belarus about the adequate response of both countries to the buildup of NATO troops and the expansion of the scale of exercises conducted with them near the borders of the Union State. We can also recall the regional grouping of troops deployed on the territory of Belarus. This should also include the arrival in Belarus of the Russian S-400 air defense systems, which immediately began to carry out joint combat duty on air defense.
Special attention should be paid to the large-scale sudden check of the combat readiness of the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus, which began on December 13 last year in accordance with the decree of the President of Belarus. First of all, the military units included in the kit of the immediate response forces (units of constant readiness) were subjected to verification. That is, those formations that will be the first to start solving tasks for their intended purpose in the event of an aggravation of the situation both on the borders of Belarus and inside the country.
The development of the topic is also the instruction of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on the creation of militia groups, which he gave on February 20 at a meeting of the Security Council. "Just in case, we need to have this people's militia, a group of people at every village council. There won't be many of them. Maybe 50 people. But they also have to have their weapons somewhere in the warehouse. We call them for training – they will take their machine guns (mainly a machine gun, a grenade launcher, a pistol) so that they can protect their home," the president said. Alexander Lukashenko explained that the people's militia can be a reserve for territorial defense, in addition, in certain cases, the people's militia units can transform into a partisan movement. "Let people learn to own weapons, there is nothing wrong with that. Just every family will be able to protect their home, village, village. This comes from the experience of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and from the ground," Lukashenko said.
It should be noted that the military-political leadership of Belarus has always considered the Ukrainian crisis in inextricable connection with the issues of national security of its state. This is confirmed by the preparation of an updated National Security Concept. Its draft was developed by an interdepartmental working group on behalf of the President and reviewed at the same time, on February 20, at a meeting of the Security Council.
Among the key factors that have become the basis for the modernization of the Concept of National Security, first of all, the actual reformatting of the existing model of the world order is noted. "Today we see clear prerequisites for the formation of a multipolar world. And this generates more and more contradictions and crises. The United States of America cannot cope with the role of the world's gendarme and is no longer dominant in global politics, although its influence is just as great today," Secretary of State of the Security Council Alexander Volfovich said at a meeting of the Security Council.
Also during the discussion of the Concept, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko pointed out that his demand is to make this document "absolutely open". "You also know this is my fundamental requirement. We must state our priorities directly and openly, show the world community the transparency of our policy, the reliability of Belarus as a responsible partner. But at the same time, our partners should know that Belarusian peacefulness is not synonymous with sacrifice. In case of any aggression, as I have said more than once, the response will be quick, tough and adequate," the Belarusian leader stressed.
Indeed, Alexander Lukashenko has already talked about this quite a lot. It is enough that it can be remembered and not forgotten in neighboring Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine and further in Europe and across the ocean.
Vladimir Vuyachich
