‘Lukashenka Is Preparing For Something’
13- 31.08.2024, 8:40
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![‘Lukashenka Is Preparing For Something’](https://i.c97.org/ai/576976/aux-head-1703568191-20231226_lukaszenka_360.jpeg)
The dictator has finally become an instrument for Moscow's operations.
In an interview with Glavred, co-founder and executive director of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation Dmytro Zhmailo responded to the statement of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry regarding the exercises conducted by the Belarusian army near the border with Ukraine. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called on the leadership of Belarus to withdraw its troops.
Zhmailo explained what such a statement could indicate, and whether it really means that Lukashenka could be preparing for something in terms of Ukraine.
“It is not 100% certain that Belarus is preparing for something. We must understand a simple fact: the self-proclaimed dictator of Belarus Aliaksandr Lukashenka has finally become an instrument for Moscow's information and psychological operations,” Dmytro Zhmailo noted.
He also said that there have already been individual facts that indicate that the Belarusian regime is transferring active equipment of the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus to the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
“Whether he rents, or gives, or sells this equipment — that's already a question of secondary importance. Therefore, now, given that Minsk has not gone for direct participation in the war, it is used precisely for such information and psychological operations, that is, when the ruler of a supposedly formally independent country gives interviews to top propagandists at those moments when the Russian Federation needs it,” the expert added.
Just a few weeks ago, Lukashenka bravely declared that he had withdrawn troops from the border, but as soon as Ukraine began an operation on the territory of the Russian Federation, he again brought this issue forward.
“Indeed, there is movement of troops there, and the most dangerous thing is that this is the Homel region, which means this is the proximity to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. We have already seen what consequences the quartering of Russians in this zone led to, when they dug in in the Red Forest,” Zhmailo explained.
The military expert believes that this is the creation of artificial tension in order to tie down Ukrainian reserves. Because, for example, in the neighboring Sumy region, there is a rotation of units that support offensive actions on the territory of the Russian Federation, because the Russians are not yet able to counteract Ukraine.
“They had a group in the Klimove-Klyntsi area, closer to the border with Chernihiv region, from there a column departed, which we defeated on the approach literally in the first days of the beginning of the operation in Kursk region. And since the Russians cannot do anything, they are pulling conscripts, representatives of the Russian Aerospace Forces, into this area, from which they quickly form assault squads in order to stop the Ukrainian offensive,” Zhmailo noted.
He also said that the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus are not very numerous. As of 2021, they had 43 thousand personnel, of which only 30 thousand are ground and airborne assault troops, and it is they who play the role of a certain diversionary maneuver in order to tie up Ukraine's reserves, which are very much needed in the Kursk region.