Lithuania demands sanctions: Lukashenko: Belarusian army is not involved

Lithuania demands sanctions
Lukashenko: The Belarusian army is not participating

02/24/2022, 11:28 AM

Belarus Governor Lukashenko said that his country’s army is not participating in the fighting. However, Russian forces are also attacking Ukraine from Belarus. For this reason, Lithuania demands the imposition of new sanctions on the country.

According to the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, the army of his country is not participating in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Our forces do not participate in this operation in any way,” Lukashenko was quoted by the official Belta news agency as saying in a meeting with his army commanders. Instead, Lukashenko is proposing to meet Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Minsk, RIA reported.

Meanwhile, the Nexta media project, which operates the Belarusian-language Telegram channel in Warsaw, reported that missiles were also launched from Belarus. A missile launched can be seen in a video on Twitter. It is said that this could have been launched from the Moglev region. The city of the same name is the third largest city in Belarus. It is about 300 km from the border with Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “military operation” in Ukraine in a televised address Thursday evening. According to information from Minsk, Putin and Lukashenko spoke by phone early Thursday morning. A little later, explosions were heard in many Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kiev, and the cities of Mariupol and Odessa. Since then, Russian troops have been moving into Ukraine from several sides, including Belarus. This information cannot be independently confirmed.

Lithuania calls for sanctions against Belarus

Lithuania, which shares a border with Belarus, is demanding new sanctions against the neighboring country because Russian forces attacked Ukraine from there. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda also wants to declare a state of emergency in his country. Noseda explains that Parliament will decide on the corresponding request.

In Belarus, joint “military exercises” between the Russian and Belarusian armed forces have been conducted over the past two weeks, which has led to the West’s fear of an attack on Ukraine. And Minsk announced, on Sunday, the extension of the exercises amid the “escalation” of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. According to US estimates, Russia has deployed about 30 thousand soldiers to Belarus for the exercises that have been going on since February 10.