Belarus introduced CTO, said the head of the country’s Foreign Ministry

The head of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said in an interview with Izvestia about the introduction of a counter-terrorist operation regime in the country.

As Makei quotes air forcethe decision was made against the background of “reports of impending provocations from nearby states”:

“The head of our country held a number of meetings with law enforcement agencies, a counter-terrorist operation regime was introduced. Indeed, there was information that some neighboring states were planning provocations, almost related to the seizure of certain sections of the territory of Belarus.”

The CTO regime gives the security forces broad powers, including:

• detentions for identity verification;
• introduction of a ban on movement;
• listening and monitoring all communications;
• unhindered entry of intelligence officers into any premises.

Military activity in Belarus in recent days has attracted the attention of both Ukraine and the West. They see Minsk’s actions as a potential sign that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko could send an army to support Russia’s failed military effort in Ukraine, Reuters news agency said. On Monday, he told a security conference that he had ordered the deployment of troops near Ukraine. The reason, according to the Belarusian president, is “a clear threat to Belarus from Kyiv and its supporters in the West.”

The media claim, citing a number of sources, that Lukashenka thus decided to conduct a “covert mobilization” in order to increase the staffing of combat units. Allegedly, the authorities decided not to publicly announce the mobilization (taking into account the Russian experience), and so far it is planned to hand out summonses only to residents of rural areas: “It will be possible to judge the goals of mobilization by knowing the number of conscripts.”

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