NATO: Russia Has Sent 30,000 Combat Troops To Belarus

Jens Stoltenberg announced the largest troop deployment since the end of the Cold War.

Russia has been moving some 30,000 combat troops and modern weapons to Belarus over the last days, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday. According to him, this became the biggest Russian military deployment in Belarus since the end of the Cold War, reports Deutsche Welle.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels, Stoltenberg specified that Moscow had transferred to Belarus Spetsnaz special operations forces, and equipment: SU-35 fighter jets, dual-capable Iskander missiles (designed for both conventional and nuclear warfare) and S-400 air defense systems.

"All this will be combined with Russia's annual nuclear forces exercise," added the head of the alliance.

At the same time, Kyiv wants to believe that Russian troops will leave Belarus after the Russian-Belarusian exercises.

“We hope that the stay of the Russian troops will be temporary and they will leave the territory of Belarus at the end of the exercises,” the Minister of Defence of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov said. “Our Armed Forces, border guards, the National Guard, the police, and the Security Service of Ukraine are ready. We observe all five regions bordering our friendly Republic of Belarus. So, we are prepared for a change in the situation”.

Earlier on the same day, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the S-400 Triumph long-range air defense system was delivered to Belarus as part of the exercises and is preparing to take up combat duty at the training ground near Brest.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Minsk today and met with Lukashenka. The exercises are scheduled for February 10-20.