Lukashenko Details Reason Belarusian Troops Will Not Join Putin's War

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed speculation that his country's forces could join Russian troops in fighting against Ukraine.

Since he won elections in 2020 that were disputed internationally and followed by a brutal crackdown on protesters and the opposition, Lukashenko has been ever more reliant on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stay in power.

While Belarus has been used as a staging post for Russian attacks on Ukraine and Moscow has deployed troops and weapons there, it has not taken a more direct role in the war, although last month Lukashenko did speak about a joint Belarusian-Russian force.

However, on the sidelines of a summit of the Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Lukashenko appeared to quash rumors of closer involvement in his ally's invasion.

Describing the prospect of Belarusian troops entering Ukraine as "total nonsense," Lukashenko said, "if we use the Armed Forces' personnel to get involved in this conflict, we will add nothing to it" as he referred to his 40,000-strong force.

"On the contrary, we will make things worse. It is not Belarus' role in this conflict," he told reporters in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, Belarusian state news agency Belta reported.

He said that Belarus is contributing to Russia's war effort in other ways but said that "we are not getting involved, we don't kill anyone, we don't send personnel over there because there is no need for it." He added that negotiations were required to end the war.

Ukrainian intelligence has said that Russia was planning false flag attacks on infrastructure in Belarus to try to drag Minsk into the war. However, analysts have doubted that this would happen due to the risk it might pose to the survival of Lukashenko's regime, with the country overwhelmingly opposed to the war.

Earlier this month, Franak Viačorka, chief political adviser to exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told Newsweek that he did not believe Putin was interested in sending Belarusian troops to Ukraine.

However, he described as a "very dangerous development" the assessment by British defense officials that Russia was moving MiG-31K jets and AS-24 Killjoy air launched ballistic missiles to Machulishchy airfield in the Minsk region.

He said there was evidence that Kinzhal hypersonic missiles are on Belarusian territory and he feared that "very soon that we will see attacks from Belarusian airspace on Ukrainian infrastructure."

"Also we see their attempts to deploy more Iskanders [missiles] which will mean more shelling from Belarusian territory," said Viacorka, who warned that Iran's supply to Russia of drones and missiles "will be dangerous for Ukraine because it does not have enough anti-air weapons."

He said that at least 4,500 Russian troops had arrived in Belarus and were using its barracks, although they were kept separately from Belarusian soldiers because there was a lack of trust between the forces.

"According to our information, the Belarusian army is quite negative towards Russia," he told Newsweek. "They use the infrastructure and military facilities but there is no willingness to accept Russians on Belarus' territory."