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Lukashenka Says Belarus Doesn't Need Russian Base

October 06, 2015

President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has said he is not aware of plans to establish a Russian military air base in Belarus.

'We don't need a base at the moment,' Lukashenka said on October 6. 'I hear shrieks from the opposition about the deployment of a Russian air base. I don't know anything about it,'

The Belarusian president was speaking two days after some 500 opposition activists rallied in central Minsk against the establishment of such a base.

In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a government proposal to sign a deal for the military air base, and ordered officials to start talks on the issue with Belarus.

Russia has two military facilities in Belarus – a radar station and a submarine communications center. It also has some fighter aircraft in the neighboring country, but the plan would establish the first full-scale base there since Soviet times.

Based on reporting by Reuters and BelTA

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/belarus-lukashenka- against-russian-base/27291524.html

Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.