Belarus will take measures against any contingent of Western observers deployed on its border with Ukraine if they pose a threat to the country’s national security, the country’s foreign minister said Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in the Kazakh capital Astana, Vladimir Makei evaluated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposal at a meeting of the G7 on Tuesday to send an international observer mission to the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in order to reduce the risk of provocations and of Belarus entering the war on Russia’s side.
Makei said his country has similar views with Moscow on this issue.
“If the relevant representatives of Western countries are sent to the border of Belarus and Ukraine, this will actually mean the involvement of these third countries in the Ukrainian conflict,” he said.
Stressing that Belarus does not want to be involved in the conflict and that it wants everything happening in Ukraine to stop as soon as possible, he said things have escalated because of Western countries.
Makei pointed out that “concrete actions are being taken: military equipment and weapons are being transferred, military personnel are being accumulated,” adding that necessary adequate response measures will be taken, including military ones.
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko also announced Monday that they had reached an agreement with Russia on the creation of a joint regional military unit.
-AA