General staffs of Belarus, Russia planning joint check of rapid response forces - Belarusian Defense Ministry

MINSK. Jan 17 (Interfax) - The general staffs of Belarus and Russia are planning a joint check of rapid response forces of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

"Consistent with the decision made by the presidents of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation, the general staffs of the armed forces of both countries are planning a joint preparedness check of rapid response forces of the Union State," the ministry said.

As reported earlier, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko approved the plan of a joint Belarusian-Russian exercise on Monday.

"Given the current circumstances, the check will involve a number of groups, formations and military units of the armed forces of Belarus and Russia," the ministry said.

"The primary objective of the check is to evaluate the preparedness of the military component to accomplish the task of neutralizing threats on the Union State border," it said.

According to the ministry, the check will involve deployment to long distances for the rapid formation of groups, as well as a number of combat training missions supervised by formation commanders, such as the protection of the state border on land and in the airspace, containment of special ops forces and illegal armed units, defense and security of positions, and defeat of the enemy.

"The transport and logistics capacities to support the deployment of forces will be assessed. The main result of the check is the evaluation of the ability of military commands and forces (contingents) to give a rapid response to current challenges to the military security of the Union State," the ministry said.

It is planned to hold the joint Belarusian-Russian Union Resolve 2022 exercise in February.