Belarus says no to Russian air base on its soil

Belarus is against establishing a Russian air base on its soil, Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko told at a meeting with media outlets from Russia.

Alexander Lukashenko said that the “issue of accommodating” a Russian air base on the territory of Belarus is not on the agenda.

“No one needs this base. (No need to) build some base at an old airfield. I ask [Russian President Vladimir] Putin a question: aircraft from Russia will have a flight time of 3-4 minutes. Why is it necessary to bring the airfield to the front line, if a war begins? One missile would be enough to finish off the runway,” Belarus’ leader added.

“This is some ill-conceived PR move,” Alexander Lukashenko also noted during meeting with media outlets from Russia.

Early, Russian news agencies reported that Russia was considering opening air base in Babruysk, in eastern Belarus.

Belarus currently accommodates two Russian military facilities: a separate radio-technical center in Gantsevichy and a communications compound in Vileyka. Under the Russian-Belarus’ accords of January 6, 1995, they, together with land plots, were transferred to Russia for use until 2020.