Lukashenko To Discuss Return Of Troops From Exercises w/ Putin Tomorrow

Russia's Interfax reporting that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will discuss with Russia's Vladimir Putin tommorow the return of troops from a 10-day long training excercise.

• The joint military drills between the two nations - the largest since the Cold War - are set to conclude on 20 February. There has been significant concern in Ukraine and the West that the exercises could be used as a pretext to place Russian divisions along the Belarusian-Ukrainian border in anticipation of a military invasion.
• Lukashenko also states that 'the Americans must admit that they have worthless intelligence' in relation to the reports that the US had anticipated a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine on 16 February.
• A full Russian withdrawal from Belarus following the exercises would be viewed as a positive development, although it would still leave massive forces on Ukraine's eastern border with Russia.