Lukashenko announced a snap inspection of troop readiness following the CIA director’s visit to Putin on 15
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has ordered a snap inspection of the country’s armed forces’ combat readiness amid the visit of US Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow.
Secretary of State of the Republic’s Security Council Alexander Volfovich announced that, as part of the inspection, one of the brigades will leave its permanent deployment location and perform a number of tasks. “We won’t discuss them for now. Everything depends on the decisions made by the leadership of the Armed Forces, the General Staff, and the military units,” Volfovich said.
He also noted that special attention will be paid to methods of engaging a potential enemy with fire, “taking into account the experience of military conflicts in Ukraine and Iran.” According to him, the purpose of the event is to test the readiness of formations and military units for combat operations in modern conditions. Volfovich also urged against concerns that “something supernatural is happening.” Previously, the commander of the Belarusian Armed Forces’ special operations forces, Alexander Illyukevich, announced that Minsk had begun forming a new airborne assault brigade near the border with Ukraine. The unit was intended to be stationed near Gomel.
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources, reported that Vladimir Putin had begun demanding that Lukashenko open a new front in Ukraine. Furthermore, according to the publication, Moscow was hoping to use Belarus for operations against neighboring NATO member countries, including for the launch of drones. Against this backdrop, French President Emmanuel Macron called Lukashenko and warned him against being drawn into the war. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew attention to Belarus’s construction of military infrastructure along the Ukrainian border, which could be used for aggression against Kyiv.
CIA Director Ratcliffe made an unannounced visit to Moscow on August 25. The Kremlin stated that he did not meet with Putin, and that the US representative’s purpose was to conduct “contacts between intelligence agencies.” As the WSJ notes, Ratcliffe’s visit may have been linked to US intelligence information about Putin’s future plans. Specifically, according to the publication, Russian military personnel conducted mobilization exercises in the Kaliningrad region and other regions, testing the Defense Ministry’s infrastructure for readiness to receive new recruits and provide them with food and weapons. Furthermore, US intelligence received information that Putin may be testing NATO’s resilience.
“The goal could have been to say, ‘We know what you’re up to, and you better not do it,'” former US Deputy Director of National Intelligence Bette Sanner told the publication. He added that the visit could also have been linked to a ceasefire in Iran and the inclusion of other parties in the negotiations.