«In connection with the escalation on the western borders of the Union State, we agreed to deploy a regional grouping of troops of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. This is all according to our documents. If the threat level reaches the current level, as it is now, we begin to use the Union State grouping. The basis (I always said this) of this group — the army, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus.
I must inform you that the formation of this group has begun, I think, two days ago. I ordered to start forming this group,» BelTA reports the words of the Belarusian leader.
Lukashenko warned that Belarus is ready to adequately respond to any opponent, as it has been preparing for this for decades.