REUTERS: Belarus seeks to deepen ties with Iran in all areas including “military-technical cooperation,” state news agency Belta quoted President Alexander Lukashenko as telling his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday.
It said Pezeshkian, on a visit to Belarus, said Iran was ready to help Belarus to “neutralize illegal Western sanctions.”
Belarus and Iran — two countries that have backed Russia’s war in Ukraine — plan to deepen bilateral ties across all areas including defense, their presidents said at talks in Minsk on Wednesday.
Belarusian state news agency Belta said presidents Alexander Lukashenko and Masoud Pezeshkian agreed to work on a strategic partnership treaty.
“In conditions of geopolitical turbulence, Minsk and Tehran are undertaking consistent and balanced steps to further develop cooperation, and are working hard to turn each new challenge into a new opportunity,” it quoted Lukashenko as saying.
“We are ready to discuss any issues, we have no closed topics,” Lukashenko said, adding that the two countries could partner across a range of areas including “military-technical cooperation.”
Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory as a launchpad for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and later assented to hosting Russian tactical nuclear missiles.
Iran has supplied drones to Russia for use in the war and Pezeshkian signed a strategic cooperation treaty with Putin in January, although it did not include a mutual defense clause.
Both Iran and Belarus are under what Pezeshkian described as “illegal Western sanctions.” Belta quoted him as saying Iran was ready to help Belarus “neutralize” such measures, noting that it had more than 40 years of experience in this area.
Pezeshkian said the two countries needed to build their economic and other ties to a level that matched the high level of trust between them.
“Of course, our common views should be implemented in the economic and cultural spheres, in the development of tourism between our countries, and also, as you noted, in the development of military-technical cooperation,” Belta quoted him as telling Lukashenko.
Belarus seeks closer ties with Iran including on defense, Lukashenko says
https://arab.news/yuh7f
Belarus seeks closer ties with Iran including on defense, Lukashenko says
- Pezeshkian, on a visit to Belarus, said Iran was ready to help Belarus to “neutralize illegal Western sanctions“
- Belarus and Iran — two countries that have backed Russia’s war in Ukraine — plan to deepen bilateral ties across all areas including defense
Russia military police building collapses near Saint Petersburg, causes unclear: governor
- Sertolovo is a small village just outside Saint Petersburg
- Local media outlet 47news reported that three people died in the incident, citing emergency services
MOSCOW: A Russian military police building collapsed on the grounds of an army base outside Saint Petersburg, the local governor said Tuesday, adding that authorities were probing the causes of the incident.
“I have instructed the security forces to assist the military in clearing the rubble and rescuing victims following the collapse of a military police building on the territory of a military unit in Sertolovo,” governor Alexander Drozdenko said.
“The causes of the incident are being investigated,” he added.
Sertolovo is a small village just outside Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second-biggest city.
Local media outlet 47news reported that three people died in the incident, citing emergency services.
It reported that the collapse was caused by an “explosion.”
The outlet also published an unverified photo purporting to show the building, a grey three-story block with damage visible on at least two floors.
Russia has been regularly hit with sabotage attacks on military bases and civilian infrastructure since the start of its Ukraine offensive nearly four years ago.
Gas leaks are a frequent cause for explosions in Soviet-era buildings in Russia, although authorities gave no immediate indication this was the cause.
