Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was cited by the Belta news agency on Wednesday as stating that Russia will soon send a large military hardware consignment to Belarus, including planes, helicopters, and air defense systems, Reuters reports.
The delivery is likely to be regarded as yet another indication of Moscow’s unflinching backing for Lukashenko, who last year dealt with the largest anti-government rallies of his presidency by ordering a brutal crackdown that was widely denounced in the West.
Large combined military drills between Russian and Belarusian soldiers are scheduled for later this month. Russia views Belarus as a strategic buffer against NATO and the European Union on its western frontier.
On September 9, Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Russia.
Russia and Belarus are nominally a “union state,” and have been discussing how to further merge their countries for years.
The devastated Belarusian opposition has long feared that Lukashenko will sell away parts of sovereignty in exchange for even greater political support from the Kremlin.
