Belarusian Soldiers Will Not Participate in Hostilities outside the Country

On February 6th the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Belarus A.Surikov expressed an opinion that Belarusian soldiers could take part in hostilities beyond the borders of the country. According to the Ambassador, participation of Belarusian military men in military operations is possible “within the framework of Collective Rapid Response Forces (CRRF) of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as Belarus signed a corresponding agreement on February 4th” (“Belorusski Partizan” 11.02.09).

On February 6^th the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Belarus A.Surikov expressed an opinion that Belarusian soldiers could take part in hostilities beyond the borders of the country. According to the Ambassador, participation of Belarusian military men in military operations is possible “within the framework of Collective Rapid Response Forces (CRRF) of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as Belarus signed a corresponding agreement on February 4^th” (“Belorusski Partizan” 11.02.09).

In his turn, press-secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs A.Popov stressed that participation of Belarusian military men in military operations beyond the borders of the country is forbidden by the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus. “In our country there is a corresponding law and it will be observed rigorously” (“Interfax-Zapad”, 07.02.2009). The Press-Secretary also noted that for the time being the document mentioned by A.Surikov “doesn’t have the status of an international agreement” (“BelaPAN”, 07.02.2009).

The unambiguousness of Belarusian attitude on the matter was confirmed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs S.Martynov: “I would like to stress that our guys haven’t fought in hot spots and they never will. All our laws in this field will be strictly observed” (“BelTA”, 09.02.2009). “Each regional sector of the CSTO will contribute to formation of CRRF. As regards Belarus, what is at issue is a regional forces group which was established long time ago together with Russia,” explained the diplomat. “These forces are intended just for possible resort and will be brought into play only if the Council of Heads of States will come to a consensus”.

“Indeed, Belarusian Constitution forbids its military men to take part in hostilities beyond the borders of this country,” admitted the source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. “Likely enough, Belarusian soldiers will be able to participate not in military yet in auxiliary operations, for instance, in rear provisions” (“Solidarnost”, 10.02.2009; “Belorusski Partizan”, 11.02.2009).