Lukashenko announced the possibility of increasing the number of troops to half a million

In the event of an armed conflict, Belarus may increase the number of its troops to half a million. This was announced by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on April 1.

"We have 70,000 under the gun today. Just under 100 thousand. Karpenkov and Kubrakov also have troops (internal troops in the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus. — Ed.). I'm on the State Security Committee. And others. 100 thousand . Half a million, including additional conscription in case of war," the BelTA news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying.

According to the Belarusian leader, there can be no peacetime now and the country is preparing for a possible conflict. He also stressed that the Belarusian military is absolutely against war, because they know what it is.

Commonwealth appeal: Moscow and Minsk have agreed to jointly address any challenges

To mark the 30th anniversary of integration, Russia and Belarus are launching new trains between the regions and introducing a single quality mark.

On March 19, the troops of the Western Operational Command (WOC) of Belarus began conducting exercises under the leadership of the country's chief of the General Staff, Major General Pavel Muraveyko. It was noted that the exercises are conducted to test combat readiness, and are also purely defensive in nature. The training is aimed at respecting the national interests of protecting the sovereignty of the state.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.