Kremlin makes up fake news about Ukraine massing troops to border with Belarus

The Kremlin has responded to statements by Belarusian officials that Ukraine is allegedly gathering troops near the border with Belarus, calling it "a cause for concern for Moscow."

Source: RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet, citing Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov

Quote from Peskov: "Belarus is a union state, we have special formats of dialogue through all relevant agencies, including the special services. And our defence ministries are in constant partnership contact. So, of course, these are reasons for concern not only for Minsk but also for Moscow, because we are truly allies and partners."

Why this is important: Russia has been using the territory of Belarus throughout the full-scale invasion: the Russian military invaded Ukraine, among other things, from the territory of Belarus, and Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine with missiles from the territory of Belarus.

Putin used the territory of Belarus for the training and treatment of Russian soldiers, as well as for the transfer of weapons and equipment.

It is on the territories of Belarus bordering Ukraine and Poland that Russia conducts joint military exercises with the Belarusian army, including those involving the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, among other things, explained his full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the fact that Ukraine was supposedly preparing to attack Russia. Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed Belarusian President, echoed Putin’s words and even promised to show some maps of where the attack was being prepared, but he never did.

Instead, during the more than two years of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Lukashenko has repeatedly stated that NATO could supposedly attack Belarus. It is supposedly precisely because of this imaginary threat that Belarus conducts numerous military exercises near the borders of other countries and has even deployed Russian nuclear weapons on its territory.  

It is highly likely that Moscow may use the new statements about the alleged gathering of Ukrainian troops at the border with Belarus either to make provocations or to justify some of its next steps in its aggression against Ukraine.  

Background:

• On 20 June, the State Border Committee of Belarus stated that it had recorded an increase in the number of Ukrainian troops near the border with Belarus, while Ukrainian border guards stressed that the defence forces were defending the sovereign territory from the aggressor and that there were no provocations on their part.
• The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reiterated that the defence forces' actions on the border with Belarus were aimed at protecting our country from the enemy's aggressive actions and in no way at invading other countries’ territories.

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