MINSK. July 5 (Interfax) - The Belarusian General Staff does not see a direct threat of a war initiated by NATO at this point, Andrei Bogodel, deputy head of the Belarusian General Staff Faculty at the Military Academy of Belarus, said.
"I do not think there is a direct threat of a war being started [by NATO] at this point. However, such preparations are actually being made. The thing is that no one is going to deploy so many troops without a reason," Bogodel said in an interview with the SB. Belarus Today media outlet.
"On the one hand, we may think that we are just being pressured. [...] In my opinion, the deployment of these contingents [NATO forces in EU member states] is nothing but an attempt to intimidate us and of course [intimidate] the Russian Federation against the backdrop of the special military operation in Ukraine," he said.
At the same time, NATO is seriously considering the possibility of an armed confrontation with the Union State of Russia and Belarus, Bogodel said.
"Why was it so important for us to monitor these exercises [NATO exercises on EU territory]? First of all, a huge group of NATO forces was involved. On one hand, there was the Defender Europe exercise on the southern flank, and on the other, the Air Defender exercise has just ended with an unprecedented number of aircraft involved. Both manned and unmanned. NATO has not done that since the era of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union. This proves that NATO is beginning to very seriously consider the possibility of an armed conflict with countries on the eastern flank in the first instance. You have to understand that the eastern flank is our Union State, the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation," Bogodel said.
"Although the exercise ended, it was our task to verify whether the forces and hardware engaged had actually left, and not miss the possible deployment of groups which could eventually begin an invasion," he said.
Poland and the Baltic countries currently host between 16,000 and 30,000 troops, and there are plans for the rapid deployment of up to 300,000, Bogodel said. "This is a group with very high preparedness. It will include forces prioritized for engagement, which can go to war within a week, as well as instant deployment forces with a corresponding level of readiness," Bogodel said.