As Belarus' authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka accused Washington of using training centres as a ruse for establishing bases for the Western military alliance, the Kremlin reiterated that any expansion of NATO military infrastructure in Ukraine would violate one of President Vladimir Putin's "red lines."
Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO but has long desired stronger links with the West and its forces, quickly dismissed the words, claiming that it will set its own security policy and that Moscow should only be concerned with matters within Russia's borders.
The current escalation in the nations' strained ties began on September 27 when Lukashenka claimed that the US is "building up bases" in Ukraine and that he and Putin "agreed we must do something about it."
Lukashenka, who has been sanctioned by the US and other Western countries for his brutal crackdown on dissent at home after the opposition accused him of rigging a presidential election in August 2020, did not specify what Moscow and Minsk would do, other than to say that the actions would "ensure the security of the two of our states."
Russia is adamantly opposed to Ukraine joining NATO, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin has frequently stated that any expansion of NATO facilities on Ukrainian soil "would cross red lines."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, speaking in Kyiv, flatly dismissed the idea of a Russian "red line" outside of its own boundaries.
"Putin's 'red lines' are limited to Russia's borders," he tweeted.
"On our side of the Ukrainian-Russian border, we can figure out ourselves what to do in the interests of the Ukrainian people, as well as Ukraine's and Europe's security."
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry dismissed Lukashenka's "baseless insinuations," emphasising that Ukraine "has never interfered and will not interfere in the affairs of neighboring Belarus.”
"Preserving Belarus's sovereignty and independence, not becoming an appendage of Russia, is something that Minsk should really think about,” the spokesman, Oleh Nikolenko, told the UNIAN news agency.
Tensions have been high since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and then reinforced its control by holding a referendum that most of the international community deemed illegitimate.
In what the US described as a campaign of intimidation against Kyiv, the Kremlin gathered more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine's border and in the annexed territory of Crimea earlier this year.
The military buildup comes as Ukrainian soldiers combat Russian-backed militants in two eastern districts in a low-intensity conflict that has killed over 13,200 people since 2014.
Despite overwhelming proof of Russian militants and arms entering Ukraine, the Kremlin has denied any role in the war.
Last week, Ukraine launched joint military exercises with the US and other NATO members, while Russia and Belarus conducted large-scale training, alarming the West.
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