MOSCOW: Alexander Lukashenko may join Vladimir Putin at strategic nuclear drills, one day after offering to host nuclear weapons in Belarus to “defend our country”.
The annual strategic Grom drills will take place on Saturday “under the supervision of Russian armed forces supreme commander-in-chief, Vladimir Putin”, Russia’s defence ministry has said in a statement. “Ballistic and cruise missiles will be launched in its course.”
Western countries remain concerned over Russia’s troop buildup on the Ukraine border. Russia has deployed up to 30,000 soldiers, tanks, artillery and ballistic missile systems to Belarus for joint exercises.
At a Kremlin summit on Friday, Putin said that he and Lukashenko, who met the Russian president at a much closer proximity than German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, this week, would be attending a “major military cooperation event” on Saturday.
“We’re going to be at an interesting event tomorrow,” Lukashenko said while discussing ongoing military exercises.
