MOSCOW. Oct 20 (Interfax) - The number of reconnaissance and tactical aviation flights of NATO air forces near Russia's borders has increased by almost one-third since last year, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
"The number of reconnaissance and tactical aviation flights of NATO air forces in areas close to the border of the Russian Federation has increased by 30%," Shoigu said at a joint board meeting of the defense ministries of Russia and Belarus.
"The high intensity of operative and combat training under the aegis of NATO persists," he said.
"More than 30 exercises with scenarios based on a military conflict with Russia are held near the western border of the Union State annually. They increasingly involve countries not part of the Alliance - Georgia, Ukraine, Sweden, and Finland. The territories of the Baltic states, Poland, and the Baltic Sea are used for the maneuvers more actively," Shoigu said.
Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said the increase in NATO attack potential on the borders of the Union State and elements of a hybrid war that the Western countries are using against Minsk are consistently worsening the situation in the Eastern Europe region.
"Speaking about today's reality, I absolutely agree with the assessment of the military-political situation in the world and in the Eastern Europe region, on the borders of the Union State. Indeed, it remains difficult and, unfortunately, it has a steady tendency to get worse. Besides the increase in the NATO bloc's attack potential in Europe, some states of the collective West have already started using elements of a hybrid war against our state," Khrenin said.
"The system of international treaties in the sphere of international security and arms control is disintegrating in this situation, which in itself increases the degree of mistrust and increases tension in the region," the minister said.
In this situation, the republic "highly values the strategic level of interaction with the Russian Federation," he said. "In the first place, in the sphere of the military security of the Union State, and it is making maximum effort to maintain and further develop it," Khrenin said.
"In this regard, despite the pandemic, we tried to hold as many events envisaged by the bilateral cooperation plans as possible, with an emphasis on practical events in the sphere of joint operative and combat training, this year," he said.
"A number of joint exercises and trainings were held, from the tactical to strategic level. Interaction was expanded on this track, not only in the bilateral format, but also in the multilateral format in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," Khrenin said.