MOSCOW (Reuters) – Joint military drills taking place in Belarus this month between Russian and Belarusian forces are for counter-terrorism purposes and are not directed against other countries, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s defense ministry as saying on Tuesday.
The “Slavic brotherhood” military drills began on Tuesday, the ministry said, and are due to run until Sept. 25.
The drills are taking place in the Brest region near Belarus’ border with Poland and are happening amid mass protests in Belarus following contested Aug. 9 presidential elections.
(Reporting by Polina Devitt; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Katya Golubkova)
