The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces - First Deputy Minister of Defense of Belarus Viktor Gulevich said that when developing the idea of checking the reaction forces of the Union State on the territory of the republic, an analysis of the development of events that took place around Belarus in 2020, the crisis situation in Kazakhstan was taken into account.

Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Stanislav Zas called on the Tajik and Kyrgyz sides to immediately cease fire on the border between these countries.

The CSTO is ready to provide Bishkek and Dushanbe with the necessary assistance in resolving the conflict

Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Stanislav Zas called on the Tajik and Kyrgyz sides to immediately cease fire on the border between these countries, CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zainetdinov told reporters on Thursday.

British Defense Minister Ben Wallace will soon meet with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, BBC News reports.

NATO has submitted its proposals to Russia in response to Moscow's initiatives on security guarantees in Europe, Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. His words are quoted by RIA Novosti.

In NATO's response to Russia's proposals on security guarantees, "there are no serious concessions," the DPA news agency reports, citing sources in the alliance. This is reported by RIA Novosti.

The content of the US response on security guarantees allows us to count on a serious conversation, but on secondary topics, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

The North Atlantic Alliance's response to Russia's security demands does not contain major concessions.

This was reported by the DPA agency, citing unnamed diplomatic sources. "NATO's response to Russia, according to sources, should not be published. According to diplomats, it does not contain big concessions," the message says.

Russia should work out concrete, including forceful methods of influencing NATO, since by their responses the Alliance and the United States actually rejected Moscow's proposals on security guarantees, said Vladimir Vinokurov, Vice President of the League of Military Diplomats, professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, said that China stands for resolving the Ukrainian issue on the basis of the Minsk agreements.

Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, said that all parties should be guided by the "Minsk agreements", and then there will be no need to support Donbass and Ukraine with weapons or finances.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, in a conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, explained to his Chinese counterpart the global security and economic risks in the event of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the State Department said.

Russia and China do not seek to conclude a military alliance, but this does not exclude their cooperation in the military sphere, said Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev.

Cuba and Venezuela are seeking to normalize relations with the United States, so the deployment of Russian military infrastructure on their territory is out of the question, said Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev.

The US can supply Kiev with strike weapons on a bilateral basis, he said

Moscow understands perfectly well that NATO's guaranteed refusal to move further to the borders of the Russian Federation will not ensure Russia's security, since Ukraine, for example, can receive shock weapons on a bilateral basis from the United States, said Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev.

Withdrawal from various arms agreements is always a bad decision, but if the United States does not provide Russia with guarantees of strategic security, then dialogue on the extension of such agreements, for example, on the limitation of strategic offensive arms, will be extremely difficult, said Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev in an interview with leading Russian media, including RIA Novosti.

No one has expressed objections to the involvement of the United States in the negotiation process to resolve the situation in Ukraine, in fact, Washington is already actively influencing Ukrainians, but now it is trying to create problems, said Deputy head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev.

U.S. and Polish Defense Ministers Lloyd Austin and Mariusz Blaszczak discussed the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border during a telephone conversation, the Pentagon said.

The Drive: The USA handed over the M141 BDM hand grenade launcher to Ukraine

The United States handed over to Ukraine the M141 Bunker Defeat Munition (BDM) hand grenade launcher, designed to destroy protected targets at short distances. The possibilities of the weapons sent to Kiev were revealed by The Drive.

The second batch of American weapons with a total weight of more than 80 tons has been delivered to Ukraine. This was announced on Sunday by Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov. The first batch of American weapons was accepted in Kiev on January 22.