Def Min Reznikov: No Evidence Russia Preparing Combat Force In Belarus

Ukraine Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has told Ukrainian television that the Ukrainian government sees no evidence that Russia has begun compiling a combat-ready offensive force in Belarus.

• Reznikov: "I think it's not in the interests of the leadership of Belarus to waste its military potential. So I have hope that they will continue holding this balance."
• Reznikov warned, however, that the transfer of Russian military equipment to the Belarus/Ukraine border could foreshadow a second offensive on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
• A meeting yesterday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk raised concerns that Moscow may apply pressure on Belarus to open a second offensive front in northern Ukraine.
• Putin and Lukashenko both stressed during a presser following the meeting that Russia does not seek to exert influence over policy-making and that the meeting was concerned with separate regional and economic matters.