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Lithuanian defense ministry says that Russian military airbase in Belarus is no additional threat

 

Lithuania's defense ministry said on Thursday that the establishment of a Russian military airbase in Belarus was not an additional military threat, but warned that the move was not a good political signal.

In its statement, the ministry said that a Russian airbase in Belarus would not be a "demonstration of mutual trust or good will on the part of either Russia or Belarus."

"At the same time, the defense ministry believes that Belarus is not a hostile state, and as an independent state it has the right to decide itself whether or not to allow other state's military airbases on its territory," the BNS news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

Arturas Paulauskas, head of the defense committee in Lithuania's parliament, warned that Russia's step to move its warplanes closer to the Lithuanian border would not improve bilateral relations.

The MP suggested that the plans were meant to demonstrate Russia's military might to the EU and NATO.

He noted that such "military actions" ran counter to diplomats' assurances that relations between Moscow and Vilnius were improving. "We see clearly that close to our border a military force is concentrated, strategic plans of the Union State are implemented, through which they seek to exercise influence on our domestic policy," said Mr. Paulauskas. //BelaPAN