Russian Defense Minister criticizes Poland's plans to deploy US division

MINSK -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that the Polish government's plan to allow a permanent deployment of a US division in its territory as a threat to regional security, local media reported.

The Polish government's plans to permanently deploy a US division in its territory are counterproductive and at odds with the goal of preserving stability and strengthening regional security, Shoigu said at a joint board meeting of the Defense Ministries of Belarus and Russia in Minsk.

"Given those circumstances, we will have to take countermeasures and get ready to neutralize possible military threats in every sector," he said.

In his turn, Andrei Ravkov, Belarusian Defense Minister, said Belarus-Russia military cooperation is a tangible factor of stability and an important element of the strategic deterrence of threats to the Organization of the Collective Security Treaty in the Eastern European region.

He also said the two countries had already begun to prepare Union Shield-2019 joint military drills. The drills will become the main event of joint training of the military command and troops in 2019 and ensure further improvement of the existing military security system of Belarus and Russia, he added.