Belarus has moved combat-ready troops closer to the border with Poland, President Lukashenko said as he warned that a growing stand-off between his country, its ally Russia and the West could end in nuclear “apocalypse”.
The long-serving Belarusian dictator said on Thursday that troops had been moved from Vitebsk, close to Russia, to the western end of Belarus in response to a Nato build-up across the border.
“From Vitebsk we’ve transferred a couple of battalions and are [now] standing head to head with Nato,” he said. “These battalions are at full operational readiness, with a readiness of three hours from leaving their place of deployment. Three hours and we’re there.”
Lukashenko, 69, said there was an intensifying threat to Belarus’s security because of the war
