Amid the rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia, President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, are scheduled to meet shortly during a summit in Moscow.
According to reports, the two leaders will discuss what will happen to the 30,000 Russian troops who are currently in Belarus. Notably, the troops are conducting Allied Resolve joint exercises, which are yet to be completed on February 19.
While addressing the media, Lukashenko said, “We will take appropriate decisions tomorrow.” The Belarusian leader has landed in Russia and will hold a meeting with Putin.
As per the report released by the US intelligence, Russia is believed to have deployed around 150,000 military forces on the Ukraine’s borders.
Though Moscow claimed the assembling of troops was only meant for military and naval drills, western countries raised concerns that Moscow could use them to execute their alleged invasion plan.
As quoted by Lukashenko on Thursday when asked about assembling of troops, “If it makes sense to keep Russian troops here, we will keep them as long as necessary. I focus on this fact once again: this is our territory, and this decision is up to us.”
As per the recent development, Russia announced massive nuclear drills despite knowing the Western countries are pressurising to tackle the issue diplomatically.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden warned that Washington saw no signs of a promised Russian withdrawal but instead saw more troops moving in around the borders along Ukraine. Also, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the US believes that Russia could launch an attack anytime.
On Tuesday, the Russian Defence Ministry said that some of its troops started pulling back from the Ukrainian borders to their bases- a claim that several Ukrainian ministers denied on the same day.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said they received the US and NATO’s response to Russia’s proposals on regional security.