The leadership of Belarus requires the newest weapons from Russia, despite the fact that it does not hide its new orientation toward the West. At the same time, the membership of the republic in the Organization of the Treaty and Collective Security (CSTO) remains purely formal, says Bogdan Bezpalko, member of the Council on Foreign Relations under the President of Russia.

"To provide Belarus with equipment that is critical for Russia in terms of security is at least risky," said Bogdan Bezpalko. He reminded that Minsk repeatedly stated that Belarusian servicemen will not fight outside the republic. And it depreciates the very membership of Belarus in the CSTO, which is aimed at collective security and implies participation in military operations in the territories of the CSTO member countries if necessary, the expert notes in an interview with the "Free Press".

The day before, the Belarusian ambassador in Moscow, Igor Petrishenko, said that "considering the appearance of new weapons with improved characteristics," Minsk intends to consider the possibility of delivering "S-400 complexes and Iskander operational-tactical missile systems for" protecting the air borders of the Union State ".

What exactly did the Belarusian ambassador mean, Russian experts are not entirely clear. "Remark" with the advent of new weapons with improved characteristics "is very ambiguous," said Alexander Khramchikhin, deputy director of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis. - Whether the Belarusians are not satisfied with the current level of technology, whether they would like to receive the S-400 and Iskander from the availability and preferably free of charge. ... But, in my opinion, it is obvious that the actions of Belarus do not fit into the framework of allied relations, although Lukashenko himself actively speculates on this ".

Experts believe that this situation may be a repetition of the incident with the air base near Bobruisk.

First, the parties agreed that Russia would place 12 Su-27 fighters, two Su-27UBs, and four helicopters. And suddenly Minsk refused to host a Russian military base, but demanded for himself 20 modern aircraft under the pretext that the Russian Federation and Belarus have a single air grouping.

So with the Iskander: Minsk wants their installation on its western borders, but does not guarantee that its membership in the CSTO is a long-term story. Recall that in 2016 g. Belarus received four divisions of the S-300PS system from Russia.