Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov met in Minsk (MID.RU)

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed, on Thursday, that the agreements that had been reached in the miliary-technical fields between Belarusian Presidents Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin were "well-timed in terms of raising our preparedness for any developments."

In his statement, Lavrov remarked that the two countries "are taking all the necessary measures to protect ourselves from potential encroachment" by the collective West and their allies as NATO makes "itself comfortable in Northern Europe."

According to the statement, Lavrov hinted at the NATO development regarding Finland and Sweden which he argued "used to be a neutral territory."

Furthermore, Lavrov said coordination of actions between Russia and Belarus is of the utmost importance in matters that pertain "to human rights protection in the Human Rights Council and other mechanisms."

He explained that Western countries attempted to "politicize discussions" that should have rather been dealt with on the basis of "the existing international humanitarian law."

Belarus, Russia kick off joint air force exercise: Defense Ministry

The Belarusian Defense Ministry announced, on January 16, the start of a Russian-Belarusian joint air force exercise, which would last until the first of February, mobilizing all Belarusian air bases.

In a statement, the Defense Ministry said, "A joint tactical flight exercise of aviation units of the Belarusian and Russian armed forces, which are part of the aviation component of the regional group of troops, started."

The Ministry explained that the key objective of the exercise is to increase the interoperability of the forces in combat training tasks, noting that a unit of the Russian aerospace forces is taking part in the drills.

"A great number of tasks is scheduled to be practiced during the exercise. These include conducting aerial reconnaissance, joint patrolling of the airspace along the state border, providing air support for groups of troops, landing of tactical airborne troops, cargo delivery and evacuation of wounded," the statement read.