MINSK. Aug 28 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is confident that his country is facing a real military threat.
"It really exists. And as regards my going on about these caterpillar treads in the territory of Poland and Lithuania, listen to me, we're not idiots. American F-16s were stationed outside Berlin, and let them remain there, but, no, they've relocated them here, within a 15-20 minute flight of our territory. And this poses a question for me, as the commander-in-chief," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Lukashenko as saying.
"There are 18 planes. It's unclear what they're holding in their slings. Maybe it's nuclear weapons. I already presume the worst-case scenario. That's why I had to react," he said.
Lukashenko described NATO's activity along Belarus's western border following the presidential election and amid the continuing mass protests in Belarusian cities as suspicious.
"Why did they start deploying NATO units near our borders now? They've launched training exercises right next to our borders. And what should I do now? I've also placed military units near the border and put half of the army on alert. And this is quite costly," he said.
The Belarusian Defense Ministry launched a comprehensive tactical exercise of a combined group of forces in the Grodno tactical sector, near the border with Lithuania, on Friday.
In recent days, Lukashenko has more than once mentioned the threat of a foreign incursion by countries that border Belarus in the west.