Expert named factors that allowed Belarusian Armed Forces to be among top 20 global armies

The Dean of the Journalism Faculty at the Belarusian State University, Aleksei Belyaev, named the factors due to which the Belarusian army had been ranked by one of the magazines among the top twenty armies of the world

The Belarusian Armed Forces joined the list of the top 20 armies of the world, taking the 12th position in the ranking released by an American magazine. “It is necessary to look at the methodology and what was taken into consideration. Actually, the issue here is not the size of the army. It certainly matters, if a million of soldiers will go fighting against an army of ten thousand people; in this case, the former is likely to win. However, speaking of modern armies, the possibilities of mobilisation of resources play their role – among other aspects, and Belarus has them. As regards modern military hardware, the Belarusian army has it in service – including missile technology, air defence, electronic warfare, drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles that have proven themselves well in recent military campaigns," Mr. Belyaev said in his talk with Alfa Radio.

The expert drew attention to another important point, “I think that Belarus’ position in the rating was much influenced by the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on our territory. This is one of the weightiest arguments that has greatly increased the capabilities of the Belarusian army, and which today is a barrier to attempts of direct aggression, invasion of our territory.”

Mr. Belyaev added, “In addition, the Belarusian army is actually integrated with the Russian one. The two states have a single air defence system, a single grouping of troops of the Union State. It has been repeatedly stated that an attack on Belarus will be regarded as an attack on Russia. This is also a political and informational factor, which has a very serious impact on the position of Belarus in the ratings of the combat capability of its Armed Forces.”