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Moscow’s Shoigu Claims NATO Drills Practiced Attacks on Belarus and Russia Near Eastern Flank
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Russian Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu accused NATO of preparing an attack on Russia and Belarus and said the military situation along the alliance’s eastern flank had become threatening, according to Interfax on February 12.
In an interview with Interfax focused on Russia’s 2026 chairmanship of the Collective Security Treaty Organization , Shoigu said European countries were “militarizing” despite economic difficulties, that NATO’s military presence was growing, and that provocations in the air and at sea were increasing.
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He said NATO exercises were rehearsing attacks on CSTO member states Russia and Belarus, adding that “the situation is tense” and that the outlook was “pessimistic.”
Shoigu cited what he described as nine NATO exercises in the Baltics and Poland between January 30 and February 6, including live-fire drills with HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, and said the alliance was “effectively creating a bridgehead for military aggression” near Russia’s and Belarus’s borders.
He also said key mechanisms of “strategic stability” had been undermined by foreign countries.
At the start of the week, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said foreign countries were preparing to change Belarus’s “constitutional order” and topple Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, arguing the operation was aimed at Belarus’s 2030 presidential election and would involve seeking new “liberal activists” inside Belarusian society.
Shoigu’s warning came amid continued Russian claims of foreign-backed threats to Belarus, including Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko’s widely circulated remark during talks with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, when he said, “And now I will show you where the attack on Belarus was being prepared from,” without naming who he said was behind it.
Earlier, it was reported that satellite imagery suggested Belarus was developing a military site potentially intended for deployment of Russia’s Oreshnik missile system at the former Krychau-6 airfield.
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