Analysts say why Shoigu flew to Minsk

Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu flew to Belarus in order to involve the neighbouring country more actively in military actions in Ukraine, analysts of the Institute for the Study of War(ISW) have said. The experts' conclusions said:

The Russian and Belarusian defence ministers met in Minsk to likely strengthen bilateral security ties between Russia and Belarus, with Shoigu likely trying to pressure Belarus to continue supporting Russia's offensive campaign in Ukraine.

During his visit, the head of the military department in Minsk signed an updated military-technical cooperation agreement with his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin, and Lukashenko said when meeting with Shoigu that "Belarus is ready to repel any external aggression". Also, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said that Ukraine allegedly wants to continue the war that Russia started against it and stated that the war could continue "until the last Ukrainian, or already a Pole or more mercenaries there".

Western analysts claim that Moscow is not ceasing to exert pressure on Minsk, but believe a direct involvement of Belarus in the war is highly unlikely because of the situation inside the country.

In the opinion of Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, the reasons for the visit are banal:

The Russian army is categorically short of ammunition, uniforms, military equipment, etc. Here Shoigu came to negotiate, the first for the order of use of the training and infrastructure base, the second for the transfer of weapons and military equipment