Belarus Leader Meets Putin in Moscow to Discuss Key Alliance Treaty

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, on Feb. 17, 2023. (Photo by Vladimir Astapkovich / SPUTNIK / AFP) Photo by VLADIMIR ASTAPKOVICH/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, held a meeting in Moscow on April 6 to discuss a decades-old treaty on economic and defense cooperation between the two countries.

In effect since 1999, the Union State treaty is aimed at cementing ties between the two former Soviet republics.

“Russia and Belarus are stepping up their cooperation in defense and security and will continue to do so,” Putin said at the meeting, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

“This is very important today, given the turbulent international situation.”

A Belarusian T-72 tank shoots at a target during a tank biathlon competition outside Minsk, Belarus, on June 17, 2017. Maxim Malinovsky/AFP/Getty Images

Lukashenko, for his part, said the Union State had created an “effective system of defense and security,” including a joint regional group of forces and a joint air-defense system.

Lukashenko arrived in Moscow on April 5 to attend a meeting of the bilateral Supreme State Council for the Union State of Russia and Belarus.

The meeting comes two weeks after Moscow unveiled plans to station nuclear weapons in Belarus—a move that drew strong condemnation from Western capitals.

Joint Military Moves Raise Fears

Since Russia invaded Ukraine early last year, military cooperation between Moscow and Minsk has ramped up exponentially.

In October 2022, the two countries established a joint regional group of forces (RGF) made up of Russian and Belarusian military personnel. Soon afterward, Moscow dispatched thousands of troops—and substantial military hardware—to Belarus.

Meanwhile, the Russian Air Force began staging patrol flights over the country’s roughly 675-mile border with Ukraine.

Russian marines take position during Russia–Belarus military drills at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in Belarus, on Feb. 19, 2022. Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

The moves prompted fears that Belarus could be used as a staging ground for an eventual Russian advance on Kyiv—as was seen in the opening weeks of the conflict.

The Ukrainian capital is located only 95 miles from the Belarusian border.

In December 2022, Minsk announced that Russian-deployed Iskander and S-400 missile systems were up and running on Belarusian territory, exacerbating fears of escalation.

In the same month, Putin paid a rare visit to Minsk for closed-door discussions with Belarusian officials. He was accompanied by his ministers of defense and foreign affairs, who also met their Belarusian counterparts.

Putin later confirmed that the two countries would continue conducting joint military exercises within the framework of the RGF.

RGF Declares Combat-Readiness

Belarus has yet to play an active role in the Russia–Ukraine conflict, now in its second year.

Lukashenko has repeatedly said he has no plan to send Belarusian troops into Ukraine to fight alongside Russian forces.

Nevertheless, on April 6, the Belarusian military’s combat-training director said that RGF units—Belarusian and Russian—were ready to carry out missions “to protect the Union State at any time and under any circumstances.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko walk during a meeting in Sochi, Russia, on May 23, 2022. Sputnik/Ramil Sitdikov/Kremlin via Reuters

In addition to the Union State treaty, Belarus is a member of several Moscow-led regional blocs, including the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

It’s also on track to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) later this year.

A formidable bloc of Eurasian states, the SCO was established in 2001 by Moscow and Beijing. It represents the world’s largest regional bloc in terms of both population and geographical scope.

Putin: US Has ‘Done It for Decades’

But it was Putin’s announcement last month that Russia would transfer nuclear weapons to Belarus that has most alarmed Kyiv’s Western allies.

It remains unclear when—or if—the transfers will occur, but according to Putin, construction of the necessary storage facilities is already underway.

If carried out, the move would be the first extraterritorial transfer of nuclear weapons by Moscow since the mid-1990s.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization flag (C) and Finland flags flutter over the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Helsinki on April 4, 2023. Sergei Grits/AP Photo

Announcing the move on March 26, Putin said: “The United States has been doing this for decades. They have long deployed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries.”

The U.S. State Department responded by condemning the move and reiterating its commitment to “the collective defense of the NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] alliance.”

Ukraine isn’t a member of the Western military alliance, but Kyiv has repeatedly voiced a desire to join.

According to the Pentagon, Putin’s announcement hasn’t been met with any change to the United States’ strategic nuclear posture.

NATO Decries ‘Empty Promises’

On April 5, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the Russian move belied a recent joint declaration by Moscow and Beijing that countries should refrain from moving nuclear weapons outside their borders.

Addressing reporters in Brussels, Stoltenberg described the Russian–Chinese assertion as “empty promises” and stressed the need to “watch closely ... what Russia is doing.”

Moscow responded by claiming that NATO was moving toward Russia—not vice versa—and that it, therefore, had the right to reciprocate.

“It is NATO that is expanding towards Russia, not Russia that is taking its military infrastructure towards the borders of NATO,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 6.

Two days earlier, Finland officially joined the Western military alliance, bringing the total number of NATO allies to 31. The move also effectively doubled the length of the land border between Russia and NATO-aligned states.

Sweden, too, is on track to join the alliance, despite a long history of neutrality.

“We are taking measures to ensure our security,” Peskov said. “And so it will be every time NATO approaches our borders.”

Reuters contributed to this report.