Alyaksandr Lukashenka made a series of appointments today and updated the leadership of the State Secretariat of the Security Council of Belarus.
According to his press service, Deputy State Secretary Aliaksandr Neviarouski has been appointed First Deputy State Secretary.
Andrei Harbatenka, who previously headed the Military Academy, has also been appointed Deputy State Secretary.
Addressing the appointees, Lukashenka noted that they are taking office during a difficult period.
“Difficult not because we are surrounded by various political schemers and, militarily, our rivals (if not to put it more harshly). Not because of that,” he said.
In his view, the difficulty of the work is primarily linked to an inspection being carried out on his orders bypassing the defense minister. Based on its results, tasks are being defined that the appointees will have to address.
“This is an example of how we will act further,” Lukashenka said, referring to the inspection.
“Aliaksandr Viktaravich took direct part in this inspection, saw everything with his own eyes. I think you were not on the sidelines either. In the near future we will sum up the results. And here a very serious time begins for you. The main conclusion we must draw from this inspection, which I recently outlined, is that we must truly prepare the officer corps. This is now your task. And it will always stand before you. With this in mind, I decided to appoint you — so that we see this main problem.
There will be no ideal servicemen. Even in wartime. We see this in Ukraine on both sides. This is my personal conclusion, and not only mine. People will be different: well prepared and less prepared. But I warn everyone in advance: those who are well prepared for war will live. Those who do things slipshod will not live,” Lukashenka said, largely repeating remarks he made during a recent visit to a training ground where the inspection ordered by him was conducted.
He stressed that officer training is not ideal and sees this as a shortcoming of the Security Council and of military education.
“The main thing is the officer, the platoon commander, the company commander, and so on. If he is prepared, he will preserve the soldiers, his subordinates, he will save the guys on the battlefield. What they fall short of because of their laxity — ‘Ah, nothing will happen, there will be no war…’ In war, in battle, all this will manifest itself. And what they did not understand in civilian life, the officer in wartime must explain to them how to act.
To say that everything is ideal in this regard — no. And these are your shortcomings. Therefore, in your new positions you must strictly control the training of our servicemen not only in the Armed Forces units but also at the academy,” he said.
