Valery Revenko: Russia is a strategic security partner for Belarus

Security cooperation between Belarus and Russia is a factor of strategic deterrence of other countries from ill-considered actions against the republic, TASS quotes Valery Revenko, Head of International Military Cooperation Department of Defence Ministry of Belarus, as saying on Wednesday.
“The main vector of our military policy is the development of strategic alliance with the Russian Federation. This is a huge factor of strategic deterrence of our partners from rash actions against our state,” he said in an interview to VoenTV posted on the Telegram channel of the Defence Ministry.
He noted that the relations within the framework of the Union State and within regional grouping of troops are constructive. “No one is telling us how we should behave, what we should do, what we should sign and not sign, unlike the Western states,” Mr Revenko added. As for cooperation with NATO, Valery Revenko said, “Being in the epicentre of events in Europe, being in such an important geostrategic position which the Republic of Belarus occupies, of course, we should think about establishing mutually beneficial relations, including with the NATO member states. This allows us to say that we are cooperating with you [NATO – TASS], these are our interests, but let us proceed from the fact that the Russian Federation is our strategic ally. If you are satisfied with this premise, this stance, then let’s continue our work,” he said.
Valery Revenko stresses that the Republic of Belarus and NATO have been cooperating in such areas as peacekeeping and linguistic training. “There are areas where we have been working and cooperating normally until some point, and which are not sensitive for our security,” Valery Revenko said.