The Belarusian leadership refused to allow Russia to place a military air base on its territory.
State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Stanislav Zas stated this to the Belarusian TV channel STV, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to him, the proposal was made when the Belarusian army was faced with the need to update the aircraft fleet of its Air Force.
“Initially, in this process, we tried to negotiate with the Russian Federation to assist us in solving this complex and very costly task. In return, we received an offer to locate a Russian air force base on our territory. But you must admit that this is not the same thing. Placing a military air base here on our soil does not solve the problem of developing our own combat aviation,” Zas said.
Despite the refusal of the Belarusian side, the contract for the supply of 12 Su-30 SM aircraft was concluded two years ago. The first link arrived in Belarus yesterday.
“These are already our Belarusian aircraft, which will be piloted by our pilots who have already undergone retraining,” Zas emphasized.
Earlier, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei announced his refusal to host a Russian air force base.
After this, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called it an “unpleasant episode.”
Deputy Dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Politics at the Higher School of Economics Andrei Suzdaltsev believes that the Belarusian leadership is deliberately raising the issue of a Russian military base on its territory, although the Russian side does not remember this long-standing episode. This is being done intentionally to give the West a reason to talk about the pressure being put on it.