Russia, Belarus to rehearse repelling attacks
Russia and Belarus will rehearse repelling an external attack when they hold joint military drills in Belarus next month, both sides said on Tuesday (January 18).
It comes at a time of acute tensions with the West over neighboring Ukraine.
Russian military forces and hardware began arriving in ex-Soviet Belarus on Monday for the drills to be held near Belarus's western border with NATO members Poland and Lithuania.
The West has voiced fears of a possible invasion of Ukraine by tens of thousands of Russian troops gathered near its border.
Russia has denied such plans.
Deputy Russian Defence Minister Alexander Fomin said 12 fighter jets, two units of an anti-aircraft missile system and a Pantsir missile system would be deployed to Belarus for the drills.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a pariah in the West since a post-election crackdown in 2020 and last year's migrant crisis with the European Union, said the drills were needed as Ukraine had built up troops near Belarus.
