5/19/2023–|Last update: 5/19/202309:42 PM (Mecca time)
to speak a report It was published by the Russian news.ru website about the capabilities of the Belarusian army and its readiness to fight, highlighting that tactical missile systems and multiple missile launch systems have been deployed on the country’s western borders as part of the army’s combat readiness test.
At the same time – the report adds – training camps are being held for those responsible for military service in the country to train the regional defense forces, and on May 15, President Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting with the army at the Air Force and Air Defense Forces Command Center in Belarus.
Armament and gear
According to the report, the Belarusian army has between 45,000 and 48,000 permanent soldiers, with about 290,000 others in reserve.
It also has more than 500 T-72B3M tanks, about a thousand other BMP-3M and BTR-2M tanks, and more than 330 self-propelled guns (A CS) of the 2S3 Gvozdica, 2S3 Actasia, 2S5 Giacint-S and 2S19 Musta-S.
This is in addition to about 70 MiG-29, Su-25K, Su-27, and 4 Russian Su-30SM fighters.
Also, it has 48 anti-aircraft missile systems “S-300”, several air defense teams “Buk” and “Osa”, as well as a number of air defense systems “S-400”.
The report quoted the Russian military analyst Alexander Karamchikhin as saying that most of the Belarusian army’s weapons date back to the Soviet era, indicating that Russia transferred some weapons to the Belarusians, but it is a very small amount and is confined to air defense systems, and Moscow will only help its neighbor to modernize several dozen Russian tanks. A T-72 according to the B-3 modification, which “in itself is not a very impressive option,” as he put it.
Security guarantee
The “News.Re” report indicated that NATO countries in general and Poland in particular; It is massing forces on the border with Belarus, which makes Russia’s ally – according to Yuri Shevtsov, a professor of political science in Minsk – facing a major dilemma. Either the complete militarization of society, that is, a sharp and radical increase in the size of the army and the transfer of the economy to a war economy, or acceptance of “Russian nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, with guarantees that they will be removed if necessary.”
The report indicated that the political expert talks about tactical nuclear weapons with a range of up to 500 kilometers, which could be a deterrent to the most aggressive NATO countries against Belarus and Russia, according to News Re.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, and all preparatory work for that had already been carried out, and it was announced that the Belarusian army had received the necessary training in Russia to work with tactical nuclear weapons.
And “News.Re” stated that Minsk chose to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in it not only to avoid the militarization of its economy and society, but also to reduce dependence on Russian forces to fend off any possible aggression from NATO or Ukraine.
The report quoted Shevtsov as saying that what increases the concern of Belarus is the length of its borders with NATO countries and Ukraine, as it reaches a length of 1,100 km, along with a border of 700 km with Lithuania, more than 500 km with Poland, and up to 200 km with Latvia. Which means that these large borders need huge military teams to secure them.