On Tuesday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Belarus plans to purchase military helicopters, combat aircraft and anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia in the coming years.
Lukashenko said he wants to step up military cooperation with Russia to improve his country’s defense capabilities amid European tensions after Moscow recognized the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine on Monday.
In a speech on Defender of the Fatherland and Armed Forces Day, Lukashenko noted that two large-scale joint operations with Russia have been conducted in the past six months and that there will be new ones, “whatever you think about it, across the border.”
The Belarusian leader on Tuesday called on the Ukrainian leadership to turn its back on “farmers abroad” who “do not bring good luck” to the Ukrainian people.
Once you feel uncomfortable with them, you will be thrown into the trash heap of history
Lukashenko said.
On Tuesday, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry announced that Minsk supports Russia’s recognition of the independence of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Luhansk People’s Republic” in eastern Ukraine.
Russia’s move not only has political implications, but also has profound humanitarian implications, given the Russian citizens who live in the affected areas and the deprivations they have suffered for nearly eight years.
– Countries in contact.
Lukashenko, who is politically and economically dependent on Moscow, recently admitted the Russian invasion of southern Crimea in 2014.
(MTI)
