Фото: Минобороны
Head of the Department for International Military Cooperation of the Ministry of Defence, Major General Valery Ravenka, has said that foreign military attachés working in Belarus convey information about events in the country in an unconstructive manner. He made the statement after today’s annual briefing for foreign military diplomats.
“They live here with us, see that everything is calm and quiet, see our situation and the peaceful life of the people, and enjoy the benefits of our state.
But at the same time, somewhere they present information in a not entirely constructive way. Therefore, we had quite a serious conversation with them, in which we asked them to objectively cover the events taking place and the situation developing in our state, which would make it possible to take appropriate decisions for building relations with the Republic of Belarus. This is a very serious issue. We will conduct a certain inventory of our relations.
We have around 36 foreign states accredited. Of these, 10 are NATO member states, with which we are building constructive relations that are clear to all of us,” he said, according to the Defence Ministry’s press service.
Ravenka also noted that foreign attachés are regularly briefed on the Belarusian side’s position regarding military activities carried out by neighbouring countries.
“We have conveyed our attitude to these activities. For example, we categorically do not accept the deployment of contingents along the border of the Republic of Belarus. We are watching with concern the issues of increasing budgets of foreign states, the construction of factories, the equipping with weapons and military hardware, which in no way signal attempts to normalise relations or attempts to build a constructive dialogue with the Republic of Belarus.
At the same time, we also drew attention to non-compliance with international agreements. For example, the withdrawal of our neighbours from the Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel mines. We state that this will cause harm primarily to themselves and their populations.
The mining of terrain along the state border will harm these states,” he said.
He also stated that Belarus is carrying out measures to prepare its Armed Forces in response to the “actions and aggressive rhetoric of the West,” which, in his view, is preparing for war. He stressed that Minsk adheres to openness in these matters.
“We provide information in full, and foreign military attachés do not even have grounds for any proposals to hold briefings or the need to obtain additional information. Everything is open, accessible and clear: we are preparing precisely to repel aggression, without any aggressive or offensive actions.
We are not increasing the size of the Armed Forces. We are equipping ourselves with high-tech weapons that will allow us to ensure measures of strategic deterrence,” Ravenka added.