Russia and Belarus made a decision to extend the inspection time of their joint forces beyond this Sunday, when the end of the
Allied Determination 2022 military exercises, Belarusian Defense Minister Victor Khrenin reported.
(Read here: Russia executes maneuvers with ballistic missiles chaired by Putin)
The move is due to “increased military activity near the borders of the Union State (of Russia and Belarus) and the aggravation of the situation in Donbas,” Khrenin was quoted as saying by the Belarusian Defense Ministry.
(Also: Presidents move amid Ukraine tensions)
The minister added that during the inspection the stages of defense of the State of the Union will be rehearsed, which were not covered “in detail” during the maneuvers Allied Determination 2022.
His approach, according to the senior military officer, will remain the same and will seek to guarantee an adequate response to the “escalation” near the common borders.
This Saturday, the head of the Belarusian Security Council, Alexandr Volfovich, said that despite the completion of the joint exercises Allied Determination 2022, which began on February 10, the verification of the combat status of the troops could continue.
“The exercises are one of the final stages of the inspection. They have already been carried out, but the inspection can continue,” Volfovich was quoted as saying by the state agency Belta.
Biden will meet this Sunday with his security council in the face of the crisis in Ukraine
The president of United States, Joe Bidenwill lead this Sunday a meeting of his national security council to address the crisis in Ukrainedue to his concern that Russia could attack the neighboring country “at any moment”.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced in a statement Saturday afternoon that Biden has decided to call that meeting “on the situation in Ukraine.”
The president “regularly receives details about the situation on the ground” and his national security team is still of the opinion that “Russia could launch an attack against Ukraine at any moment,” Psaki stressed.
For their part, the foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) will address this Monday the security crisis between Russia and Ukraine in their monthly Council, to which they have invited their Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba, while maintaining their unity on the need to sanction Moscow if it attacks its neighbor, with measures that are already prepared.
“We have been working for weeks on possible sanctions in the event that Russia takes action in Ukraine or elsewhere in Europe, endangering our security,” a senior European official said this week, ahead of the ministers’ meeting on Monday.
Although the European ministers are not expected to address these restrictive measures during their meeting, they are already prepared and could come into force quickly in the event of action that motivates them.
In parallel, they are considering sanctioning Belarus if it participates in a Russian attack on Ukraine, according to the European source, taking into account that Moscow has stationed troops near the Ukrainian border on Belarusian territory.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and EFE
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