Belarusian Defense Minister Victor Khrenin assured on Monday that the military exercises that his country is carrying out in conjunction with Russia do not represent a “threat” to Ukraine. The official made the statement after a telephone conversation with his counterpart in Kiev, Oleksi Reznikov.
Both ministers expressed, in the press release, their “conviction” that the Allied Determination 2022 military exercise “does not represent a threat to the security of the sister countries.”
Khrenin stressed that Belarus is not the initiator of tensions in Ukraine and recalled the words of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in which he noted that “relations with Kiev can improve.”
In a joint press release, the Belarusian minister reported that the conversation was held at the request of Ukraine.
The official added that the conversation discussed cooperation between the two countries in the military field, and the concrete steps to be taken to strengthen the environment of security and trust in the region.
Khrenin and Reznikov agreed on concrete steps to increase transparency and mutual trust, with the intention of reviving the atmosphere of dialogue, reducing negative opinions and ensuring security in the region.
For his part, Reznikov called for the resumption of cooperation between the two countries and the intensification of security cooperation, as well as the restoration of mutual trust.
The Allied Determination 2022 military exercises were launched by Belarus and Russia on February 10 on Belarusian territory and are planned to end on February 20.
Russia announces that military exercises are about to end
Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu indicated that some of the military exercises that his country is carrying out on national territory have ended, while others are “about” to end.
Shouigu recalled that on February 12, a supposedly American submarine violated Russian territorial waters near the Kuril Islands archipelago during naval maneuvers by the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet.
The Russian minister assured that the submarine was removed from the area and described as “incomprehensible” the alleged violation of what he said were 4 kilometers of territorial waters of his country.
*Translated by Daniel Gallego.
The Anadolu Agency website contains only a part of the news stories offered to subscribers on the AA News Broadcast System (HAS), and in a summarized form.
–
