MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax) - Russian-Belarusian exercises are defensive and pose no threat to third countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"I must state that this exercise is purely defensive and not a threat to anyone. As is known, the two countries' defense ministries had announced the intent and objectives of all these planned maneuvers in advance," Putin said after talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Friday.
Today's talks involved a detailed discussion of strengthening the Russian-Belarusian defense space.
"We agreed to continue to collectively take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the two countries in the context of growing military activities of NATO countries on the external borders of our Union State. In this context, we jointly gave a high assessment of the Union Resolve 2022 exercise, the active phase of which will last in Belarus until February 20," Putin said.