Belarus announces troop deal with Russia

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Russia and Belarus have begun forming a joint force, which will include several thousand Russian troops, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Monday during a security meeting, RT reports.

Lukashenko said the move comes in response to “increased aggression from Kiev and the West.”

The Belarusian leader said that the plan was decided on when he held a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of an informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg last week.“In response to the aggravation on the western border of the Union State [of Russia and Belarus], we agreed to deploy a regional grouping of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus,”RT quoted Lukashenko as saying.