Belarus, Russia extend joint military exercises amid Ukraine tensions

By Ali Cura

MINSK, Belarus (AA) - The joint military drills of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus will continue beyond their original schedule due to rising tensions in eastern Ukraine, Belarussian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said on Sunday.

The announcement came amid increasing military activity near the borders of Russia and Belarus and an escalating situation in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which is controlled by pro-Russian rebels.

Khrenin said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had decided to continue "inspections of the readiness of Union State forces," between the two countries.

He also accused NATO was arming and building military facilities in countries bordering Russia and Belarus, posing a threat to Moscow and Minsk.

The Russian-Belarusian military drill -- dubbed the Allied Determination-2022 -- had originally been planned to last 10 days and take place across five training areas in western and southwestern Belarus, near the country's borders with Poland and Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had announced earlier that the drills would end on Sunday.

Tensions have risen dramatically in eastern Ukraine in recent days, with reports of a growing number of cease-fire violations, multiple shelling incidents, and evacuation of civilians from the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Western countries have accused Russia of amassing nearly 150,000 troops along the Ukrainian border, prompting fears that it could be planning a military offensive against its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Moscow has repeatedly denied any plan to invade Ukraine and instead accused Western countries of undermining Russia's security through NATO's expansion toward its borders.

* Written and contributed by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara