MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2023) Belarusian armed forces are conducting military exercises due to the tense situation near the country's borders, First Deputy Defense Minister Viktor Gulevich said on Saturday.
"Military training is the key activity of armed forces. Also, the tense situation developing near our country's borders adds up. We are forced to react to hostile actions of our neighbors, who are conducting intensive military preparations. And our armed forces keep up on a rather high level," Gulevich, who also serves as the chief of the general staff of the armed forces of Belarus, stated.
Gulevich added that the Belarusian army was showing its strength amid the drills conducted in neighboring western countries.
"We demonstrate that our forces can repel any aggression aimed at our country if necessary. Which is proven by the plan of Saturday's drills: conducting defensive actions on the borders will help defeat the advancing enemy," he added.
On Saturday, a brigade tactical exercise with combat shooting took place at a training ground in the Brest region in western Belarus within the examination of the army's combat readiness. According to the exercise plan, intelligence detected advance forces of a nominal enemy and engaged in a fight with its patrol squad. Later, the nominal enemy retreated under the fire by assault aviation, artillery and tanks.
Earlier in April, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the country's Security Council to check battle readiness of the armed forces. The council's state secretary, Alexander Volfovich, said that the revision would engage full range of events related to transferring military units from peacetime to wartime, including conscription, arms supply, and arriving to training grounds for performing designated tasks.
