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The military analyst told what is behind the deployment of Lithuanian troops at the Belarusian border

The involvement of army units to strengthen the state border security in crisis situations is a generally accepted world practice. However, the decision of the Ministers of Internal Affairs and National Defense of Lithuania to deploy troops on certain sections of the Lithuanian-Belarusian border cannot be regarded in this context. This was said to BelTA by Andrei Chernobay, Military Analyst at the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research.

"First, there is no real reason to strengthen border security now: the illegal migration flow through our country has significantly decreased, and this has been repeatedly noted by Lithuanian officials themselves. Second, allegations that Belarus "continues destabilizing the political and public order in adjacent countries" have no ground – we have never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries and have no intention of doing so in the future. Finally, we are talking about the deployment of permanent troops, not about their temporary stay", the expert draws attention.

In his opinion, this step of the Lithuanian authorities should be considered in conjunction with other decisions taken recently: increasing defense budget expenditures, allocating funds to upgrade road infrastructure for military purposes, giving the status of a project of special state importance to the Rudninkai military training ground in the southeast Lithuania intended for the deployment of additional NATO troops.

"In general, we can talk about considerable militarization of the Baltic region carried out recently by the North Atlantic Alliance led by the U.S. The number of NATO troops in Poland and the Baltic states has almost doubled already compared to last year, Warsaw has received additional American troops on its territory. Senior officials of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have repeatedly called for the deployment of permanent ground and air forces of allies in the Baltic States, and this issue may be considered at the next NATO summit. In the same vein, we should consider the literally pulling of Finland and Sweden into the North Atlantic Alliance", Andrei Chernobay noted.

In this regard, the expert believes, it should be noted that the Concept of national security of Belarus considers the enhancement of the striking potential of military-political alliances, resulting in violation of the existing balance of forces in the European region, as well as the build-up of military infrastructure near the borders as the main external sources of military threats to our state. "This means that Belarus will have to take adequate steps to respond to emerging threats", the military analyst stated.