Military exercises caused panic among the “sprats”, Belarusian and Ukrainian “Svidomo”
The Zapad-2017 military exercises between Russia and Belarus planned for the fall could result in the Crimean scenario or promise big troubles for the Baltic states, writes the Minsk correspondent of the liberal Novaya Gazeta.
The cause of concern for Belarusian independence activists was the information about the purchase by the Russian Ministry of Defense of 4162 railway cars for military transportation to Belarus.
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“This caused not just bewilderment in Belarus (and at the same time in Ukraine), but quite understandable anxiety: what, who and why will these four thousand cars be transported to Belarus? After all, the order for 2016 was only 50 cars, for 2015 - 125.
Military experts expressed different assumptions... from Belarusian territory, Russian troops can quickly link up with the Kaliningrad group and close the “Baltic cauldron,” the publication says.
And one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, reserve lieutenant colonel Nikolai Statkevich, spoke about the threat of the Crimean scenario: “The battalion is enough for occupation, given the mood of Lukashenko’s command.”
“We Belarusians somehow cannot sleep peacefully,” worries the Minsk “Svidomo” correspondent.
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