Lavrov: Moscow, Minsk to strengthen defense cooperation in response to West’s actions

Russia and Belarus intend to develop defense cooperation in view of reluctance of the West to meet halfway, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov told TASS in an interview.

“I would like to note that the activity of our foreign policy offices is aimed at searching for ways of settling any matters in a political and diplomatic way. Nevertheless, in view of non-readiness of the West to look for compromise, the program [of coordinated foreign policy actions] contains provisions pertaining to coordination of interaction in military and political aspects and defense cooperation development,” Lavrov said.

According to the minister, the updated Military Doctrine of the Union State, approved by the Supreme State Council on 4 November, will be an important aid in such work. “It fully takes into account the significant changes in the military and political situation in Eastern Europe that have taken place in recent years,” Sergey Lavrov stressed.

On 10 November, Sergey Lavrov and Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei signed a program of coordinated actions in the area of foreign policy of the state parties to the Treaty on the Establishment of the Union State of Belarus and Russia in 2022-2023.

The updated Military Doctrine of the Union State of Russia and Belarus was approved by leaders of the two countries Vladimir Putin and Aleksandr Lukashenko at a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State on 4 November. Later, State Secretary of the Belarus-Russia Union State Dmitry Mezentsev said that the military doctrine is a response to the policy of pressure of the West, and will provide a higher level of interaction between the defense ministries of the two countries. He assured that “neither Russia nor Belarus threaten anyone, nor seek any kind of domination outside their own borders, but the defense doctrine confirms that the external borders of the Union State are reliably protected”.