US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has expressed Washington’s concern over the extension of joint military exercises of Russia and Belarus, CNN reports.
According to Blinken, this indicates that Russia is “preparing the ground for an invasion.”
“Now they justify the continuation of the military exercises, which, according to them, should have already been completed. Indefinite continuation due to the situation in eastern Ukraine, a situation they created by continuing to escalate tensions,” he said.
Earlier, on 20 February, the Minister of Defense of Belarus Viktor Khrenin announced the continuation of the exercise in the form of a “test of the response forces of the Union State.” He explained that the decision was made “in connection with the increase of military activity near the external borders of the Union State, in connection with the aggravation of the situation in Donbas.” The joint military exercises called “Union Determination” were to end on 20 February.
