UPDATE - Belarus Starts Snap Inspection Of Combat Readiness Of Troops - Defense Ministry

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th December, 2022) A snap inspection of combat readiness of the Belarusian armed forces has begun in Belarus at the instruction of President Alexander Lukashenko, the defense ministry said on Tuesday.

"At the instruction of the Belarusian President, the Commander-in-Chief of the Belarusian armed forces, a snap inspection of combat readiness has begun led by the state secretariat of the Security Council," the ministry said.

Inspection measures will cover various aspects, and the troops will have to advance into designated areas, install engineering equipment, organize their defense and build crossings over the rivers of Neman and Berezina, according to the ministry.

The movement on certain roads and in some areas will be temporarily restricted for civilians due to the inspection, the defense ministry added.

Later in the day, head of the international military cooperation department of the Belarusian Defense Ministry Valery Revenko clarified that the snap inspection of combat readiness of the Belarusian armed forces was defensive in nature.

"The Security Council launched a sudden inspection of the AF CORE (the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus). The events are defensive, the inspection... is selective, the composition of participants is announced in stages," Revenko said on his social media.