OREANDA-NEWS. The President of Belorussia Alexander Lukashenko instructed Stanislav Zas, the State Secretary of the Security Council and the Minister of Defense, to develop and submit a plan for responding to the deployment of American tanks in close proximity to the state’s border in Lithuania.

Zas said that US tanks will be located at the Pabrade firing ground in 15 kilometers from the border of Belorussia. “Until now, there were no American units in this country. Now they are appearing there,” the State Secretary said. According to him, in such a situation response measures are worked out in any country. He promised that the proposals will be worked out and reported to the President early next week.

Zas also mentioned that Minsk is concerned about the upcoming large-scale NATO exercises named Defender Europe, which are scheduled for the spring of 2020. According to the officer, the maneuvers will become the largest in the past 25 years. “About 40 thousand military men from 18 NATO countries will take part in them. Besides, about half of these servicemen are from the USA,” the minister said.

Earlier on October 22, Lukashenko announced that there is a tense situation near the borders of Belorussia. According to the head of state, instead of the “belt of good neighborliness”, which Minsk stands for, nowadays “an arc of instability is emerging.” “…In this situation, you should do everything not to give even an occasion for destructive forces to ruin the world created on this land,” Lukashenko said to military men during the award ceremony.