Rutte cautioned that Belarus plays a limited but risky role under Moscow\u2019s sway. Allies now watch Minsk for any military signs.<\/p>\n
On July 6, during a press conference ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte spoke about Belarus\u2019s role in regional security, emphasizing that the country is under Moscow\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n
Do not be naive about the role Belarus plays. It is under enormous influence from Russia and Moscow<\/p>\n
\u2013 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte<\/p>\n
What is happening in Minsk is largely inspired by Putin<\/p>\n
\u2013 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte<\/p>\n
I cannot tell you everything \u2013 yes or no, because part of this information, of course, is classified<\/p>\n
\u2013 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte<\/p>\n
Context of the statements and next steps<\/p>\n
At the end of June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky heard a briefing from the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Oleg Lugovskyi, regarding the development of border infrastructure in Belarus. Zelensky said that Lugovskyi reported on the implementation of measures under apparent Russian influence in Belarus in preparation for a potential expansion of aggression against Ukraine.<\/p>\n
On June 19, Zelensky stated that at the border with Ukraine in Belarus there is equipment installed that Russian forces use to direct attacks on Ukraine; he urged Alexander Lukashenko to remove this equipment within a week.<\/p>\n
On June 24, Zelensky announced that the repeaters on Belarusian territory are no longer functioning.<\/p>\n
On July 6, Alexander Lukashenko spoke about a hybrid attack against Belarus and assured that he would not send the Belarusian army to fight in Ukraine, according to the local service of Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty.<\/p>\n
Lukashenko appeared in public on the fourth day after returning from a tour of Asian countries and took part in a ceremony honoring graduates of higher military educational institutions and the higher officer corps. The Belarusian leader said that the hybrid attack against the country would continue.<\/p>\n
Belarus is not taking direct part in the war against Ukraine, but in February 2022 its authorities provided territory for the passage and deployment of Russian troops, and strikes from Belarus were launched against Ukraine.<\/p>\n
In the current situation, the security environment will remain under the close watch of allies and diplomatic efforts, as further steps by the parties are closely tied to regional interests and the reaction of the international community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rutte cautioned that Belarus plays a limited but risky role under Moscow\u2019s sway. Allies now watch Minsk for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1587,34,1588,1586,1589,95,1590],"class_list":["post-3132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-belarus-influence","tag-lukashenko","tag-mark-rutte","tag-mark-rutte-belarus-influence-nato-ankara-summit-lukashenko-ukraine-border-security","tag-nato-ankara-summit","tag-news","tag-ukraine-border-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/belarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/belarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/belarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/belarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/belarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/belarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/belarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/belarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/belarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/belarus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}