The General Staff of Belarus confirmed the intention to conduct further exercises of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) forces on Belarusian territory next year. According to the Pozirk Agency, the exercises are titled Barrier-2026.
According to VaenTV, the head of the Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces of the Belarusian Armed Forces, Vyacheslav Starkov, stated that during the maneuvers it is planned to continue the practice of jointly carrying out tasks to neutralize biological threats in the interests of the CSTO’s Collective Peacekeeping Forces.
The CSTO includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
Context and positions of regional players
However, the Armenian authorities froze the country’s participation in the organization and announced a possible withdrawal from it.
Yerevan accuses the CSTO of inaction during the conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, which has affected regional security dynamics.
The regime of Alexander Lukashenko continually conducts military exercises, drills, and mobilizations against a backdrop of escalating tensions with the West and Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, in which Minsk officially supports the Kremlin.
In February 2022, Russian troops that had arrived on Belarusian territory to participate in the exercises were not withdrawn after their completion and took part in Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The Barrier-2026 exercises topic underscores continued cooperation among CSTO member states in the security sphere and support for regional balance, while also signaling the persistence of tensions among global powers and changes in the geopolitical landscape around Belarus.