Moscow Not Offering To Build Military Base In Belarus Since 2015 - Ambassador

Moscow has not offered to set up a military base on the territory of Belarus since 2015, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Mikhail Babich said Friday.

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2018) Moscow has not offered to set up a military base on the territory of Belarus since 2015, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Mikhail Babich said Friday.

Earlier in November, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that he saw no need for a Russian military base in the country since Minsk could ensure its own security within a military and political alliance with Russia.

"I can say that since 2015, no one has made any proposals on the establishment of a Russian military base in the Republic of Belarus, either publicly or privately," Babich told reporters.

He said that between 2012 and 2015, NATO pursued an active policy, including eastward expansion toward Russia's border, provoking corresponding responses in return.

"But they were adopted in a different configuration, taking into account the disposition of already operational Russian groups, which is enough to not just stop the threat today, but together with the armed forces of Belarus to cause intolerable damage to any enemy in any situation," Babich stressed.

Warsaw is currently seeking to build up a permanent US military presence in Poland. At a meeting with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, in September, US President Donald Trump said that the United States was considering to establish a base in Poland. Trump also stated that Warsaw agreed to pay more than $2 billion toward the cost of the base. The Polish president, in turn, suggested that the base be called Fort Trump.

Lukashenko has said that if Poland goes ahead with its plans to increase the US military presence on its territory, Belarus and Russia would be forced to respond.