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Belarus “will probably not get involved in the war” in Ukraine despite President Lukashenko’s close relationship with Putin because “90 percent of Belarusian society” oppose intervention, an expert has said. Retired air Vice-Marshal Sean Bell, speaking to Sky News, described the Belarusian ties to Russia as “interesting” since while it seems Lukahsenko’s position of power is predicated on supporting Putin, the country’s population appear to oppose both the war and their President.
Reports have also surfaced of late that currently serving Belarusian military personnel would either refuse orders to invade Ukraine or would switch sides and join the Ukrainians.
Mr Bell said: “If I was a military guy, Belarus shares a very long border with Ukraine and if you wanted to take out the seat of power, Kyiv, I would much rather do it from Belarus than I would from Russia.
“Lukashenko, who is the leader in Belarus and who is a puppet of the Putin regime, only has a standing army of about 15,000 soldiers. Now, Putin needs hundreds of thousands, not tens of thousands, of soldiers.
“There is an interesting relationship between these two guys because they are sort of mutually dependent.
“A good example of that is that we are suffering with energy prices in this country. Belarus is currently being provided gas by Russia at only five percent of the cost we are paying for it. Clearly Putin is keeping Belarus sweet.
“But the flipside of that is Belarusian society is 90 percent certain they do not want to get involved in the war.
“So, it is an interesting relationship between the two. What looks likely is that while Belarus probably will not get involved in the actual war, they are definitely going to be helping to facilitate Putin’s aides.”
While Belarus has not supplied any of its Armed Forces to the Russian war effort in Ukraine, it has served as a support for Putin since February.
At the beginning of the war, Russian troops made use of the proximity of the Belrusian border to the Ukrainian city of Kyiv and marched on the capital from within Lukahsenko’s territory.
READ MORE: Belarus denies invasion fears as Lukashenko amasses joint force [REVEAL]
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