Belarusian Armed Forces Assigned Additional Tasks in Peacetime

The Armed Forces of Belarus have been assigned additional tasks in peacetime, and the concept of national defense has been significantly expanded. Today, the National Legal Internet Portal published the law “On Amendments to Laws on Issues of Military Security and Defense.” The law enters into force upon publication.

When the draft law was submitted to the House of Representatives, it was reported that it had been developed to implement the provisions of the Military Doctrine approved by the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly. The corresponding amendments are introduced to the laws “On Defense,” “On the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus,” and “On Martial Law.”

The law expands the definition of Belarus’s defense. Previously, defense was defined as a system of legal, political, economic, military, social, and other measures ensuring the country’s military security. The new definition is significantly broader and, in particular, includes the protection of the constitutional order.

“The defense of the Republic of Belarus is a system of legal, political, economic, military, social, and other measures carried out to protect the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and constitutional order of the Republic of Belarus. The basis of defense is the armed protection of the Republic of Belarus,” the new version states.

Under the law, when martial law is introduced, the Ministry of Defense will perform the functions of the executive body of the Security Council within the system of strategic command and control of the Armed Forces, other troops, military formations, and paramilitary organizations under the direct leadership of the commander-in-chief.

In the law “On the Armed Forces,” the article on the tasks of the Armed Forces has been set out in a new wording. The changes mainly concern tasks in peacetime. Under the law, in peacetime the Armed Forces will have the following tasks:

• Maintaining combat potential, including combat and mobilization readiness of troops (forces), at a level ensuring military security and the armed protection of the Republic of Belarus.
• Participation in ensuring the military security of the Republic of Belarus, including the implementation of preventive measures to eliminate military threats.
• Participation in preventing the outbreak of an internal armed conflict, and, if such a conflict breaks out, in resolving it.
• Repelling military aggression in the event of an international armed conflict.
• Identifying military dangers and preventing the emergence of sudden military threats to the Republic of Belarus.
• Participation in creating favorable conditions in the information space to achieve political, economic, and other goals that meet the national interests of the state.
• Protection of the State Border of the Republic of Belarus in the airspace.
• Creation and development of multifunctional defensive systems to comprehensively address tasks of military security and armed protection of the Republic of Belarus.
• Improvement of air defense as a unified combat defensive system of the Union State.
• Permanent readiness to use allocated forces and means to eliminate crisis situations capable of leading to armed conflicts on the territory of the Republic of Belarus or allied states.
• Prevention (localization) of armed incidents (actions, provocations), including in border areas.
• Participation, in cooperation with other troops and military formations and paramilitary organizations, in ensuring the regime of martial law and the state of emergency.
• Conducting troop mobilization and strategic deployment of the Armed Forces (full or partial).
• Maintaining a high level of moral and psychological condition of personnel.

In the new wording, some tasks have been reformulated and clarified. For example, whereas previously the Armed Forces were required to participate in resolving an internal armed conflict, they are now also tasked with preventing such a conflict.

New elements also include the implementation of preventive measures to eliminate military threats, prevention of armed incidents in border areas, and constant readiness to use forces and means in crisis situations. Another new task is participation in creating favorable conditions in the information space to achieve political, economic, and other goals that meet the national interests of the state.

The tasks of the Armed Forces in wartime are defined as follows:

• Armed protection of the Republic of Belarus independently or jointly with the armed forces of allied states.
• Inflicting damage on the adversary and creating prerequisites for the cessation of hostilities (conclusion of peace) on terms that do not contradict the national interests of the Republic of Belarus.

The law “On Martial Law” has also been amended to add to the list of grounds for introducing martial law an “act of armed aggression by any state or coalition of states committed against the Union State or a member state of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.”