British intelligence names new role for Belarusian army in Russia's war against Ukraine

Military intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Great Britain reports.

"On 19 December 2022, President Putin travelled to Minsk to hold talks with President Lukashenko of Belarus. The presidents’ discussion included talk of a ‘single defence space’," the message says.

While Russia and Belarus have widely covered the deployment of Russian units in Belarus, Belarusian armed forces have recently assumed an important but more cautious role in training thousands of recently mobilized Russian reservists.

British intelligence emphasizes that the use of Belarusian instructors is an attempt to partially fill the shortage of Russian military instructors, many of whom are stationed in Ukraine or have died.

"Although Russia and Belarus have an extensive background of military co-operation, the training of mobilised Russian personnel by Belarusians represents a role reversal. Belarusian forces have traditionally been considered by Russia as inferior to Russian forces and their employment as trainers is an indication of overstretch within the Russian military system," intelligence of the United Kingdom emphasized.

• On December 19, a representative of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, Valery Kovalevskyi, said that the role of Belarusian territory in war will increase, and Russians will import engineering units of the troops. He noted that engineering units are the skeleton of troops, and manpower and equipment are always faster to transfer. Valery Kovalevskyi added that there are currently insufficient numbers of Russian and Belarusian military personnel on Belarusian territory to conduct offensive actions.