NATO drills near Belarusian borders pose "challenge" to Union State, Minsk says
MINSK. June 5 (Interfax) - While Belarus does not see current NATO activity near its borders as an immediate military threat, this does pose a challenge to the Union State and calls for an adequate response, Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Shestakov said.
"The activity carried out by NATO or under its aegis close to our borders - and we share over 1,200 kilometers of the border with NATO states - as well as buildup of the relevant infrastructure, even though not seen as an immediate military threat at the moment, we don't perceive them positively. It is a potential challenge to the Union State of Belarus and Russia, which requires adequate retaliatory measures," Shestakov said in an interview with the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina.
The interview was published on the official site of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on Saturday.
"The risk of destabilizing the already fragile security architecture across the European region" is rising, the deputy minister said.
By tradition, Belarus is doing all it can to ensure military-political stability near its borders and worldwide, he said. "As a state that has its own interests both in the East and West we are not interested in escalation of the situation," Shestakov said.
"That the differences in approaches to providing regional security among key players on the European continent increasingly transform into real buildup of military potentials, objectively that is not in anyone's interests. We don't share approaches whereby a state is 'drawing' more foreign military systems and forces onto its territory. We believe that such actions weaken the security of the state," the deputy minister said.
By "flexing military muscles" military blocs and international alliances will not achieve equal security in the present-day world, Shestakov said. "Belarus firmly adheres to the principle of resolving all conflicts and solving all problems only diplomatically, at the negotiating table," he said.
The Belarusian deputy foreign minister is in Cuba on a working visit from June 2 to 5.