Russia-Belarus: new joint military exercises that raise questions

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko during his meeting with officers at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground, Belarus, Friday, January 6, 2023. AP - Andrei Stasevich

Text by: Anissa El Jabri Follow

1 min

Last year, at the same time, Moscow and Minsk were already holding joint military exercises.

Those that started this Monday, January 16 in Belarus, this time in the midst of Russia's offensive in Ukraine, are dedicated to the air.

Like last year, Minsk assured that they were "defensive" in nature.

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From our correspondent in Moscow,

It was a trip last week that raised many questions: just after the appointment of the Chief of the Defense Staff,

, one of his deputies went to Minsk .

Is Belarus one of the important pieces of the puzzle of this new potential Russian offensive that everyone is talking about?

Will she have to get more involved?

So far, the country has mainly served as a rear base for Russian forces, and the offensive launched from its soil last winter ended in a withdrawal.

This military presence, some experts also say, could also serve above all to fix Ukrainian troops in the area.

These exercises, which should last two weeks, are in any case for the moment only described and commented on officially by the Belarusian Ministry of Defense.

They concern the two air forces: it is a question of strengthening their “ 

” as they say in Minsk.

The two countries announced the creation of a single defense space in December 2022

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