120,000 soldiers for Belarus?: Opposition politicians warn of Putin and Lukashenko’s plans

120,000 soldiers for Belarus?
Opposition politician warns of Putin and Lukashenko’s plans

10/14/2022 3:36 am

A few days ago, Belarusian ruler Lukashenko announced the military unification of his country’s armed forces with the Russian army. An exiled opposition politician now warns he wants to station more troops in Belarus so it can attack Ukraine from the north.

Pavel Latushka, a Belarusian opposition politician exiled in Warsaw, is convinced that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko are planning an invasion of Ukraine from Belarus next spring. “Our sources say the Russians want to station 120,000 soldiers in Belarus by then,” Latushka told Germany’s Editorial Network.

He put the current number of Russian soldiers in his country at around 5,000, spread across four Russian military bases. The former culture minister said the background to the Russian-Belarusian plans was an attempt to create a potential threat from Belarus that would force Ukraine to move more troops to its own northern border to deter a potential attack. “That would force Ukraine to withdraw forces to the south or the east,” Latushka explained.

“Putin is using our country for his aggression, and Lukashenko is a useful idiot,” Latushka continued, according to the report. As Putin’s lapdog, Lukashenko is completely dependent on him economically, which is not to say he isn’t. At the same time, Lukashenko wants to try to upgrade the Belarusian army from the current 65,000 to 100,000 soldiers by spring. “It will be difficult for him,” Latushka stressed: “We are a peaceful people, our people don’t want to fight with Ukrainians. They don’t see any reason for this war, they don’t want to die for Putin.”

NATO has no sign of Belarus entering the war

Lukashenko recently announced the creation of a joint regional military unit between his country’s armed forces and the Russian military. But so far the country of ten million people has not actively participated in the war of aggression. However, according to the West, Belarus serves as a deployment and retreat area for Russia.

In the middle of the week, NATO countries were not particularly nervous about the deployment of Belarusian troops on the border with Ukraine. A representative of the military alliance said on Wednesday that there are currently no signs that Belarus wants to actively participate in a war of aggression against Russia. He cited the threat of Western sanctions as a possible reason.

Referring to Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, he said: “I don’t think Lukashenko understands that the full force of the sanctions imposed on Russia will be used against Belarus. Ukraine.”