MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th December, 2021) Moscow and Minsk take into account the expansion of NATO and its forces' build-up near common borders in military-technical cooperation, Aleksey Polishchuk, the head of the Russian foreign ministry's second CIS department, told Sputnik.
Russia and Belarus are bound by obligations to ensure military security within the framework of integration associations, and the western border of Belarus is the common border of the Union State and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Therefore, its joint defense is one of the common priorities of Moscow and Minsk, the diplomat said, adding that a single defense space is now being formed.
"Naturally, this activity takes into account changes in the military and political situation, especially the expansion of NATO and the build-up of the alliance's forces near our borders. They were also taken into account in the updated military doctrine of the Union State, which was approved in early November," Polishchuk said.
