Belarusian Military Sent To Syria

Previously, Lukashenka said he would not send Belarusian soldiers to Syria.

The Russian government approved a draft agreement on the deployment of a humanitarian military contingent of Belarus in Syria. The document was published on the official portal of legal information.

The agreement regulates the issues related to involvement of the Belarusian military contingent in humanitarian aid to Syria. According to the draft, the Belarusian military contingent of up to 200 people "will be involved in activities exclusively for humanitarian purposes outside the war zone". During the stay in Syria, the Belarusian military will be stationed at the positions of the Russian aviation group.

The Russian Defence Ministry and the Foreign Ministry have been instructed to hold talks with Minsk and, once an agreement is reached, sign the document on behalf of the government, allowing for any changes to the draft that are not of a fundamental nature.

It is also reported that the draft agreement has been preliminary worked out with the Belarusian side and concerns the provision of humanitarian aid to the Syrian Arab Republic.

Earlier Lukashenka stated that he would not send Belarusian soldiers to Syria.

"I have no particular desire to get between the Iranians, the Americans, the Turks and the Russians in Syria. It is even considered that the army has to be trained. I am even afraid to talk about it and it is out of question that I might agree behind your back and transfer some contingent there tomorrow. There is no need for that, it is not needed and it should not be done. So this 'Syrian syndrome' that has slipped into the minds of some people has no basis in fact," he said in March 2019.

He also pointed out that the constitution of the republic does not allow sending a military contingent to other countries. At the same time, Lukashenka noted that he was interested in taking part in the process of post-war reconstruction of Syria and dictator Assad "always said and now he says: we are reconstructing Syria and we would like you to work there".