Lukashenko says Russia 'must be ready' to use nuclear arsenal
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Last Sunday, the Belarus President reaffirmed his support of Putin’s war effort in Ukraine. During a visit to Moscow, he told reporters that Minsk supported and “will continue to support Russia” in its “fight against Nazism”. The Belarus leader emphasised that his country would “remain together with fraternal Russia”.
However, his remarks appear to have gone down extremely badly with his military’s officer class.
In an astonishing open letter addressed to the Belarus President, senior officers from the fifth brigade of the Special Forces warned their leader against sending Belarusian soldiers to fight in Ukraine, claiming such a move would amount to “pure suicide”.
Additionally, they accused the Russian President of “destroying our sovereignty”.
In a stinging rebuke to Putin, the officers then reiterated their support for Ukraine, saying the two countries had always enjoyed friendly relations and denounced the Kremlin’s war as ‘totally unprovoked”.
The soldiers wrote: “At the present moment officers from the fifth brigade of the Special Forces have observed the most serious infringement of Clause One of the Belarus Constitution by Russia’s highest political leadership.
“According to this Clause, the Belarus Republic maintains supremacy and full authority on its own territory.
“It also enjoys independence over its internal and foreign politics.”
They continued: “Russia’s occupation of the internationally recognised territory of Ukraine, which is friend of our state, and its attempt to pull Belarus into a completely unprovoked war against a sovereign state can only be seen as the destruction of the sovereignty of Belarus.
“By entering the war against Ukraine, Belarus will be evicted from the community of civilised states and will be an international outcast for many years to come.
“To join Russia in its fight against Ukraine would be an act of pure suicide.”
Minsk and Moscow have increasingly strengthened their ties in the wake of the massive political protests that broke out following Belarus’ presidential elections in 2020.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest the election result, which saw Lukashenko re-elected for a sixth term.
The protesters claimed the elections were rigged and demanded that Lukashenko step-aside for opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
However, the Belarus dictator crushed the protests with help from his Russian counterpart.
Ever since, the two countries have forged ever closer military, economic and political ties.
This has involved Russia opening military bases and stationing its troops on Belarusian territory.
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Many commentators believe that there has been a de-facto unification between the two countries.
It comes as Putin warned that Russia was “just getting started” in Ukraine and that Moscow had not “started anything yet in earnest”.
During a combatant speech to the Russian parliament on Thursday, he also said the West was welcome to try and defeat Russia on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Putin said: “Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield.
“What can you say, let them try. We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian.”
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