Belarus is a strategic partner of Russia and shares a long border with Ukraine.
The United States has branded the exercises, which are expected to be Russia’s biggest deployment to Belarus since the Cold War, an “escalatory” action. Ukraine claims they amount to “psychological intimidation.”
Despite massing more than 100,000 troops at the border, Russia has continuously denied any intention of attacking Ukraine.
However, the US along with other western nations have warned that an assault might occur at any time.
The Russian government has declared it will not allow Ukraine, a former Soviet republic with extensive social and cultural connections to Russia, to join the Western military alliance NATO. Since 2014, it has been providing support to an armed insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
On Thursday, European nations are expected to begin high-level diplomatic discussions in an effort to defuse the crisis.
Approximately 30,000 Russian troops are expected to participate in the Belarusian military exercises.
Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, is a firm ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The pro-Russian president, Mr. Lukashenko, after a disputed election in 2020 that sparked violence.
The two countries’ military forces were engaged in a series of live-fire exercises near their borders. Russian and Belarusian leaders described the training as critical, with Russia being “faced with unanticipated challenges.”
Meanwhile, the EU’s ambassador to Russia, Vladimir Chizhov, told the BBC that his country still believed diplomacy could assist in defusing the Ukraine crisis.
“The current exercises will not be the final ones for Russian troops stationed in Belarus,” he said. “After these training, Russian soldiers will go back to their permanent bases.”
The negotiations are expected to continue later on Thursday when the four countries’ representatives will sit down together to discuss ways to reduce tensions. The Normandy quartet is made up of France and Germany, known as the Russian and Ukrainian envoys, along with Russia and Ukraine.
There is some speculation that a renewed focus on the so-called Minsk agreements, which sought to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, might be used as a basis to resolve the current situation.
The agreements were negotiated in 2014-2015 by Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany.
Philippe Etienne, the French ambassador to the United States, tweeted that the Minsk accords should be used to “establish a viable political settlement.”
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is planning to go to Brussels and Warsaw in support of Nato allies as part of a three-day trip throughout Europe.
Mr. Johnson’s visit is part of a spate of diplomatic activity, which includes Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace traveling to Moscow on Thursday to meet their Russian counterparts.
The UK’s Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, told a parliamentary committee that she believes “the best and most effective way to influence the situation is through diplomacy,” adding that she has been working with Canada’s foreign minister on a cease-fire plan for Ukraine.
Russia has accused “the Anglo-Saxon nations” of exacerbating the Ukraine crisis, and a number of other countries in the world have joined in.
The British government’s accusations that the Kremlin intended to establish a pro-Russian puppet regime in Ukraine were parroted.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet Baltic nation leaders in Berlin on Thursday.