President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has warned that Minsk will have to respond to the deployment of American tanks in Lithuania near the borders of the republic.
“Troops have never been so pointedly delivered to our borders from across the ocean. There has never been such a thing. In my opinion, this is even the first time in Lithuania. This is a precedent”, – said the president, quoted by the BelTA state agency. On Monday, Lukashenko heard a report on the military-political situation, risks, challenges and threats to Belarus, as well as a response proposal.
The president said that although Minsk will have to respond to the deployment of US tanks at the country’s borders, Belarusians should not “rattle their arms”. We are a peace-loving state, we don’t want to fight”, – Lukashenko emphasized.
The head of state also stated that “30 tanks and 30 armored vehicles (which the United States deployed in Lithuania) are simply ridiculous against the Belarusian army”.
“We, as I often say, carried out four modernizations of our army, and we perfectly understood what kind of fists would be created at our borders, and what kind of adversary, God forbid, we could face. We were preparing for this”, – the Belarusian leader emphasized.
Lukashenko added that the Belarusian authorities may “not even make any gestures to counter (US troops in Lithuania)”.
Earlier in October, it was reported that eight Abrams tanks and 21 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles were delivered to Lithuania by rail. This is the technique of the American battalion of the 7th cavalry regiment, which will be deployed in Lithuania for six months. Cars arrived from Poland.
Altogether, 500 US troops, as well as heavy equipment — 30 “Abrams” tanks, 25 “Bradley” infantry fighting vehicles, 70 wheeled vehicles should arrive in Lithuania. It is planned that the American battalion will be deployed in Lithuania by the spring of 2020.