More on the Belarusian military's comments about NATO activities from a TASS report:
Belarusian Defense Minister: NATO demonstrating increased activity at Belarusian border
MINSK, June 15. /TASS/. Belarusian Defense Minister Andrei Ravkov, who
met with President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday, drew attention to
NATO's increased activities at the Belarusian borders.
Pavkov informed the president about measures "of adequate response to
what is going on at the southern border." "We are keeping a close eye on
the situation in Ukraine and the state of affairs at our borders stemming
from it," the minister said.
He pointed to NATO's increased activities at the border. According to
Lukashenko's press service, the North Atlantic Alliance "has increased its
activity in conducting military exercises, including large-scale drills,
at the Belarusian borders by 1.5 times" as compared with the previous year.
The minister said the country was checking the reliability of the
border protection system at the southern border section and in the Gomel
region bordering Ukraine.
Officials in the Minsk contact group, including former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, are due to hold talks on Tuesday, June 16.
Belarus says it was conducting military exercises near the Ukrainian border because of NATO.
Here is a map of the latest military situation in the Donbas today -- issued by Ukraine's Defense Ministry (click image to enlarge):
Here's an update from our news desk:
A Kremlin spokesman has declined to comment on reports that the United States is planning to store heavy arms in Eastern Europe.
Dmitry Peskov said on June 15 that Moscow would do so only in response to an official U.S. statement.
Citing U.S. and allied officials, The New York Times reported on June 13 that Washington planned to store heavy military equipment in several Baltic and Eastern European countries to reassure allies made uneasy by Russia's action in Ukraine and to deter aggression.
Poland and Lithuania confirmed they were in talks with Washington on stationing heavy arms in warehouses in the region.
Peskov said: "There were no statements from the United States to that end [on the plans] so I have no comment for now."
(Reuters, Interfax)