Opinion: changes in Military Doctrine are asymmetric response to progressive militarisation of neighbouring countries
The military-political situation around Belarus has changed radically. Accordingly, the Military Doctrine and the National Security Concept are changing in our country, with the Belarusian People’s Congress delegates approving both documents on April 25th. In his talk with Alfa Radio, a deputy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, Counsellor-Envoy of the Embassy of Belarus in Russia Aleksandr Shpakovsky, commented on this aspect.
“Making changes to the Military Doctrine, we had to take into account the most important factor: by excluding the nuclear-weapon-free status from the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, we freed our hands in the field of security of our country,” the expert explained. “As it turned out, we did exactly the right thing. This is an asymmetric response to the progressive militarisation of neighbouring states: by 2028, a German brigade will be deployed in Lithuania, 20,000 American soldiers will be stationed in Poland, with Polish President Andrzej Duda constantly asking the US for nuclear weapons. We knew that, as these events have been going on since 2019.”
According to Aleksandr Shpakovsky, the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons of Russia on the territory of Belarus and the development of possibilities for their joint use is our asymmetric response to this.
“This is necessary so that we can defend our state, if such a need arises. The possibility of the preventive use of military means for Belarus’ defence is an extremely important factor in the Military Doctrine. This in no way changes the nature of Belarus’ foreign policy, which remains peaceful; we exclude any aggression from our territory. However, in response to verified information about aggression against us, we can settle this problem in preventive ways. These political documents in their open part are available to any member of our society, our foreign colleagues, those who are hostile to us. Some embassies and structures are now carefully studying these conceptual documents, drawing appropriate conclusions. Belarus seeks to fulfil its role of a donor to regional stability and does not try to change the constitutional order of its neighbours. Nevertheless, we will strictly and fundamentally protect our interests. If some think they will be able to cheat us by creating their own gangs in Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, and then sending them to us saying ‘we are not a party to it’, you are deeply mistaken. We will know where the threat is coming from and reserve the right to an adequate response, including a preventive one,” the political expert concluded.
