MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia warned the West and Ukraine on Friday of “catastrophic consequences” if Kiev moved against close Russian ally Belarus, and made clear it would intervene to defend a country where it has deployed tactical nuclear weapons.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Moscow was concerned about what she called increasingly “provocative” activity on the border with Belarus, and said she did not rule out attempts to escalate in the region.
Days after Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region on August 6, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko – a loyal ally of President Vladimir Putin – suggested without providing evidence that Kiev may have ideas about attacking Belarus.
Minsk, which has accused Ukrainian drones of violating its airspace, later announced it was sending extra troops to its border with Ukraine, although Kiev said it had seen no major changes in the border area.
“We note the information received about the intensification of the activities of the Ukrainian forces in the border zone,” Zakharova said.
“We see these facts ourselves and are aware of constant attempts by the Ukrainian side to use drones and send terrorists into the republic,” she added.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said last month that the country “has never taken and will not take any unfriendly measures against the Belarusian people”.
In an apparent reference to Ukraine’s Kursk incursion, Zakharova said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had shown he was capable of what she called “reckless steps”, accusing him of coordinating his actions with Washington ahead of a US presidential election in November.
“Therefore, in line with this logic, we do not rule out the possibility that these destructive forces could set off the situation in the region and escalate.”
She said Russia and Belarus were part of a “union state” and had committed to jointly defend their shared borders, noting that a joint regional military group was deployed in Belarus along with Russian tactical nuclear weapons.
“The practical implementation of any scenario aggressive towards Minsk is fraught with catastrophic consequences not only for Ukraine but also for its sponsors,” she said.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)