Putin Ally Deploys Tanks Near NATO Border

Belarus has reportedly deployed tanks near its border with NATO, while tensions between Russia and the strategic alliance continue to simmer amid the war in Ukraine.

The Belarusian military “mobilized reservists and kicked off major military maneuvers,” according to a report published by The Kyiv Post on Thursday. Troops and equipment including tanks from Belarus’ 19th Guards Mechanized Brigade were reportedly deployed near the country’s western border with NATO member country Lithuania.

The Community of Railway Workers of Belarus—a group opposed to the policies of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is a close ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin—said that a train loaded with military equipment and personnel arrived on Wednesday night in Oshmyany, an area located less than 15 miles from the border with Lithuania.

The group said that the train arriving at Oshmyany station consisted of four passenger cars filled with Belarusian troops and 42 cars loaded with equipment, including nine T-72B tanks. Belarus’ Ministry of Defense later confirmed that the deployment included T-72B tanks and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, according to the Belarusian Hajun news project.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a statement shared on social media that a military training exercise was taking place in a region that includes Oshmyany through April 5. Additional exercises were reportedly taking place in several other regions of Belarus, including some in areas not far from the border with Poland, another NATO member country.

“Personnel will have to move to designated areas and conduct a series of exercises and training, including live fire,” the Belarusian army said in a statement, according to a translation from The Kyiv Post. “During the inspection, the movement of military equipment is planned, and it is possible to temporarily restrict the movement of civilian transport on public roads and areas.”

Newsweek reached out for comment to NATO via email on Thursday.

Lukashenko, an autocratic ruler who has repeatedly faced international accusations of human rights abuses and election rigging, last month accused Poland of plotting with the U.S. to carry out a “large-scale provocation” that would later be “blamed on Russia and Belarus,” comparing the NATO allies to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler at the beginning of World War II.

Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin seemingly issued a threat to NATO during an interview on Russian state television a short time later, saying, “Minsk will not stand on ceremony in the event of its air space is violated” and would shoot down any foreign aircraft “without warning.”

Earlier this year, Belarus announced that it had adopted a new military doctrine allowing for the use of nuclear weapons, having received a shipment of tactical nuclear weapons from Russia at the end of 2023.

Meanwhile, NATO is currently conducting its largest military exercise in Europe in decades. Operation Steadfast Defender is scheduled to continue through May and includes over 90,000 troops from all 32 of the alliance’s member states. Russia has claimed that the exercise is really a rehearsal for a U.S.-planned NATO attack on its territory.