Contents tagged with Belarus

  • Putin and Lukashenko to inspect Zapad-2017 joint military exercise

    The Presidents of Russia and Belarus, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, respectively plan to visit together the strategic Zapad (West) 2017 exercise, which will include large-scale maneuvers from both armies. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Vladimir Putin explained to Izvestia newspaper  that the two presidents intend to visit one of the training grounds in Russia.

    The joint Russian-Belarusian strategic exercise Zapad 2017 will be held from September 14 to September 20, 2017. According to …

  • Belarus: hype around Zapad-2017 military exercises incomprehensible

    Belarusian Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Oleg Belokonev called the excitement around the Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 exercises, which will be held in September, incomprehensible. He assured that the Russian group participating in the exercises in the territory of the Republic of Belarus would return to Russia by September 30, BelaPAN news website reports.

    "The exercise will allow us in practice to improve infrastructure sharing arrangements in the interest of ensuring the …

  • Ex-Candidate for the presidency of Belarus arrested in Minsk

    The leader of the Belarusian National Congress and former Belarusian presidential candidate Mikola Statkevich was arrested, as reported by his wife Marina Adamovich. "Mikola was arrested today at about 12 pm, not far from home, when he was going to a meeting," she wrote on Facebook. According to the wife of the activist, he was taken to a temporary detention center on Okrestin Street in Minsk. In early August, the court sentenced Statkevich in absentia to administrative arrest for 15 days for …

  • Ukraine sends observers to Zapad 2017 Russian-Belarusian military exercises

    Two Ukrainian observers will go, by invitation, to Belarus to monitor the Zapad (West) 2017 military exercise, according to a statement of the Office of Public Relations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The statement was published on Wednesday on the page of the General Staff of the Armed Forces on Facebook.

    "The Ukrainian side confirms the fact that Ukrainian representatives were invited to monitor the West 2017 military exercises, which are to be held on the territory of the Republic of …

  • Belarus: Representatives of 7 countries will be present at Zapad-2017 military exercise

    Belarus invited representatives of seven countries and six international organizations to the Belarusian-Russian military exercise Zapad 2017 in the fall of 2017, as reported by the Ministry of Defense of Belarus on its website.

    The report emphasizes that "monitoring of the exercise has been organized in strict accordance with national legislation and international treaties."

    "Building on the practice of good-neighborliness and reciprocity, within the framework of the OSCE Vienna Document …

  • Turchynov: During Zapad-2017 military exercises Kremlin will test its army’s readiness for war with West

    During the Zapad (“West”) 2017 exercises, the Kremlin will test how ready Russia is for a major war with the West, said NSDC (National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine) Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov.

    According to him, it has been officially declared that the exercises will involve roughly 13,000 military personnel, including roughly 3,000 from the Russian Armed Forces, and roughly 280 items of weaponry and military equipment and 25 items of aviation equipment. Aside from the armed …

  • Russia to give Belarus $700 million loan ‘to strengthen friendly relations’

    This year Russia will lend Belarus $700 million. As follows from the Russian government’s directive published on the official legal information portal, Minsk will be obligated to repay this loan in 10 years.

    The funds will be allocated “towards the goal of further strengthening friendly relations” for the repayment of loans issued previously by Russia.

    Minsk must make repayments twice a year, on April 15 and October 15, over 10 years. The payment amount will grow from 2.5% of the amount …

  • Putin: Russian oil will be supplied to Belarus only if its exports take place through Russian ports

    "Belarusian refineries process our raw oil. There is no other oil there and it is unlikely to appear, that is why we need to align their receiving our oil with the requirement of using our infrastructure," as said by President Vladimir Putin at a meeting on transport infrastructure development for the northwest Russia which was held on Wednesday, August 16th, in Kaliningrad, as reported by RIA Novosti.

    Belarus has two oil refineries in Mozyr and Novopolotsk. Russia agreed to supply 24 million …

  • Lithuania to send observers to Russia-Belarus Zapad-2017 exercises

    Lithuania received permission to send observers to the Russia-Belarus exercise Zapad-2017, which will be held on September 14 to 20, reported Delfi. Lithuania will observe the exercises in Belarus and the Leningrad region of the Russian Federation.

    "Lithuania... together with other states of the region received an invitation from Russia and Belarus to observe Zapad-2017 exercises," the representative of the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense, Asta Galdikaitė said.

    She said that …

  • Lukashenko sees danger in how Belarus-Russia relations are developing

    President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that he is concerned about the negative dynamics in the development of relations between Belarus and Russia.

    “We have a large debt under the Union State treaty. We lost a lot on many fronts. But the worst thing is that on some issues we are losing ground,” said Lukashenko.

    He also mentioned the restoration of border zones on the Belarusian-Russian border.

    We were proud of the fact that both Russians and Belarusians have equal rights here. Now we …