Russia, on June 25, denied putting pressure on its ally Belarus to support an expansion of the war in Ukraine.
The denial came in response to a June 24 report by The Wall Street Journal claiming that Moscow wanted to use its neighbor as a springboard to step up attacks on Kyiv, and that the Kremlin was threatening to cut financial support to Minsk if it did not agree.
When asked about the report during a news briefing on June 25, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described it as “completely untrue,” according to Russian state news agency TASS.
“We have the Union State and a broad range of joint projects on the agenda,” Peskov said. “We have the most advanced form of integration with Belarus, and Belarus remains our closest ally.”
The “Union State” is a supranational organization formed by Russia and Belarus to deepen political, economic, and military integration between the two nations.
Belarus, meanwhile, said it was the West that was trying to draw it into the war.
Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said the West was stoking tension, calling the situation along the former Soviet republic’s borders “extremely unstable and escalating” in a speech to graduating officers at the Military Academy of Belarus in Minsk on June 25.
“On the other side of our borders, NATO troop concentrations are being strengthened, infrastructure is being improved, the military budgets of neighboring states are increasing, and politicians are making loud, militaristic statements,” he said, according to state outlet Belarus Today.
“Efforts are being made to prolong and expand the heated conflict unleashed by the West in Ukraine,” he said, noting that Belarus “is doing everything possible to preserve peaceful skies over [the] country.”
“Today, we are fully aware of overt attempts to drag Belarus into war. We are increasingly convinced that the country’s independence comes at a heavy price.”
Belarus is closely allied with Moscow and shares borders with Russia and Ukraine, as well as the three NATO states of Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.
European states have always denied Russian allegations that they are responsible for the war in Ukraine, against which Russia launched a full-scale invasion in 2022, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said repeatedly that he believes that Moscow wants to get Minsk more involved in its assault.
On June 19, Zelenskyy said that signal relay stations in Belarus were being used to guide Russian drone attacks on Ukraine.
Issuing an ultimatum to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, he gave his counterpart in Minsk a week to remove them, noting that “if he doesn’t do it, [Ukraine will] do it,” according to Ukraine’s national news agency Ukrinform.
Then, on June 24, Zelenskyy said the stations had stopped working.
“According to the information reported to me by the Commander-in-Chief and our intelligence services, the relevant relay stations stopped operating on the territory of Belarus on June 22,” he said, according to Ukrinform. “Whether they have been dismantled or not, I honestly do not know yet, but we are working on it.
“I am monitoring the situation very closely and receive daily reports. The fact is that the relay stations are not operating at present.”
Lukashenko, meanwhile, said on June 25 that his country wanted “peace, and only peace,” during a meeting with Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, according to TASS.
“We don’t need war,” he said. “We have enough land, enough economy, and enough problems. So, no confrontation, no need to ’spoil the waters’ here. I’m saying this so you understand my position. I don’t hide it. Peace, and only peace.”
Lukashenko further added that “in any situation, [Belarus] will stand by Russia,” during the same meeting.
Although Moscow is the dominant partner, it also relies on Minsk, which has two large refineries, to process Russian oil and sell gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel back to Russia.
