Russian President Vladimir Putin did not support his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko’s suggestion to offer “a mirror response” to NATO’s aircraft training flights.
On Saturday, during his meeting with Putin in Saint Petersburg, Lukashenko shared his concern over US and NATO aircraft “that are training to carry nuclear warheads and nuclear charges.” He asked his Russian colleague “to consider mirroring the answer to these things,” or at least to help Minsk to upgrade its planes.
Putin responded to the proposal by saying that while “there is no need” for reciprocity, Russia and Belarus have to take measures to ensure their own security, “as well as, probably, that of other members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.”