BELARUS launched a joint air force exercise with Russia on January 16, lasting until February 1, as fears were mounting that Moscow was seeking to persuade Minsk to join the war against Ukraine. However, Pavel Muraveyko, first deputy state secretary of the Belarusian Security Council, sought to allay concerns, saying: "The exercise is purely defensive in nature." At the start of the air drills, he commented: "It will be a set of measures to prepare our and Russian aviation to carry out the relevant combat missions."
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