“Russians Hide Equipment on the Territory of Abandoned Plants”

Why are they doing this?

Russian-Belarusian military exercises are scheduled for Thursday, February 10. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu flew to Minsk.

On Friday, February 4, a day after the Russian Defense Minister's visit to Minsk, Reuters published satellite images taken by the private American company Maxar Technologies. The photos show large concentrations of military equipment near the border between Belarus and Ukraine - in the vicinity of Yelsk, Rechitsa and Luninets. The photos fix the equipment, the presence of which was not announced at the exercise. These are primarily Su-25 attack aircraft, as well as Russian Iskander missile systems and multiple rocket launchers seen near Yelsk. At the same time, Rechitsa and Yelsk were not officially announced as locations for the exercises.

Eyewitnesses told Radio Svaboda there might be more Russian troops in Rechitsa than one could see in the satellite photos published by Reuters.

There is an old hydrolysis plant in Rechitsa, which went bankrupt several years ago. It is now abandoned and not working. According to residents, the Russian military began using the plant's premises a few days ago.

"Walls with roofs and large hangars remained," said the residents of Rechitsa. - Russian equipment is there. There is a lot of it. One can't take a picture of it from above (from the satellite - Ed.). Locals used to go to the territory of abandoned plants all the time and take metal to give it as scrap. Now there's a military cordon around the perimeter. It's no longer possible to enter the territory.

The plant is located on Ilyicha Street in the industrial zone. It is about two kilometres from the center of Rechitsa; the Dnieper river is nearby. According to the residents of Rechotsa, one mentioned the military equipment from Russia on the territory of another enterprise - the former Ritm plant. During the Soviet times, the enterprise produced microchips for military equipment, went bankrupt in zero years. The Ritm premises are well-preserved.

Reports on the concentration of servicemen near the border with Ukraine also appeared in the Loev district. According to its resident, one started taking receipts from employees of forestries that they would not talk to servicemen deployed in the forests near Ukraine in the vicinity of the village of Dimmerki.

"People were given papers to sign that they would not wander through the forest - only through the logging area," said the interlocutor. - They were also told not to communicate with the military".

The Loev district, as well as Rechitsa, was not mentioned as a training area. There are no railroad or other transport hubs here. The village of Dimmerki is only a few kilometres from the border with Ukraine. The nearest large Ukrainian city, Chernihiv, is about 25 km away.

More reports on the movement of Russian troops along the Belarusian railroad appear. Topical communities on Telegram and social networks write about this, posting photos of trains with military vehicles and equipment. In particular, Russian military trains were mentioned in Osipovichy, Baranovichy, Lida and Minsk, Kolodyshchy only over the weekend.

On Saturday, Russian military equipment with license plates issued in the Primorsky Region of Russia (code 125. - Ed.) was noticed in Maryina Gorka, where Belarusian special forces units are located. Earlier, the media reported about the relocation of troops from the Far East to Belarus, citing military experts.

We don't know exactly how many Russian troops are now on the territory of Belarus. According to international agreements, they can't exceed 13 thousand people. The Defense Ministries of Russia and Belarus refer to the so-called Vienna Agreements of OSCE when speaking about the Allied Determination 2022. However, according to the data voiced by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Russia has already moved about 30,000 of its military personnel into the territory of Belarus. The entire Belarusian army has about 65 thousand people; 45 thousand of them are military, and another 20 thousand are civilian specialists.

The exercise Allied Determination 2022 is scheduled for Thursday, February 10. They will last until February 20. Then the Russian troops should leave Belarus.