Editor's Note: Seymur Mammadov is the director of the international expert club EurAsiaAz and editor-in-chief of Azerbaijan news agency Vzglyad.az. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The mass demonstrations in Belarus that have not subsided since August 9, which, according to the Belarusian side, are backed by pro-Western forces, may well force Russia to take security measures to stabilize the political situation and neutralize possible threats emanating from the West.

The fact that Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko twice this weekend spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin testifies that the situation in Belarus is far from simple, and may lead to irreversible consequences, the emergence of new hotbeds of conflicts right on the border with Russia.

In the last telephone conversation with Lukashenko, which took place on August 16, Putin said Russia was prepared to provide security support to Lukashenko through the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Russia has expressed its readiness to provide military support to Belarus if necessary, but some Western experts strongly doubt this, believing that in this case, Russia will face serious Western sanctions, with irreparable consequences for the Russian economy. Perhaps the West will impose sanctions if Russia extends a helping hand to the Belarusians, but Moscow will never sit around doing nothing just for fear of sanctions. It will not leave Belarusians alone with ongoing threats from the West.

Firstly, Russia and Belarus are co-founding members of the Union State, the Customs and Eurasian Economic Union, and also carry out military cooperation within the framework of the CSTO.

Secondly, Belarus and Russia are united not only by a single union with integrated economies and complementary markets. Both countries are the closest neighbors and participants in a single historical process.

The peoples of these two countries are truly connected by common values ​​and traditions, and often by family ties. However, despite close integration, sometimes complications arise in relations between the countries, but this did not in any way affect the foreign policy strategies of the two countries to deepen interstate cooperation and will not affect as long as two Russian military facilities operate on the territory of Belarus.

The first military facility is the "Volga" radar station, the second is the 43rd Vileika communications center of the Russian Navy (Antey radio station, RJH69).

The Volga radar station controls overseas Europe and the patrol areas of the U.S. and British Trident ballistic missile submarines in the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea. The official tactical and technical characteristics of the Volga are unknown. But the representatives of the research and production complex of the Research Institute for Long-Range Radio Communication – the main developer of the Volga reported that this station is capable of detecting flight ballistic missiles, as well as space objects at a distance of several thousand kilometers. Russia decided to place this station on the territory of Belarus for the reason that the Americans decided to deploy Pershing II medium-range ballistic missiles in the FRG.

As for the purpose of the "Vileika" radio station, it covers the areas of the Atlantic, India and part of the Pacific oceans, providing communications for the nuclear submarines of the Russian Navy at a distance of up to 10,000 kilometers. It also conducts electronic intelligence and electronic warfare and works in the interests of other branches of the Armed Forces and combat arms.

As we can see, these military facilities really allow Russia to be informed in the event of any threats from the West, their absence there will cause risks not only to Belarus itself, but also Russia.

Moreover, Russia has built a nuclear power plant in Belarus. The sky above this strategic object is controlled by the battery of the Tor-M2 anti-aircraft missile system in case of unforeseen circumstances. The level of trust in Belarus is so high that Russia has not even sent its paramilitary units to guard these strategic sites.

If tomorrow, for example, a government hostile to Russia comes to power in Belarus, then the risk of losing Russian military facilities is inevitable. Russia is well aware of this, but they also realize that if events in Belarus took place according to the plan of the West, the Belarusian people will be completely reoriented to Western values, and this will lead to the ousting of the Russian language from Belarus, as happened in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine. So will Russia give up Belarus? Definitely not.

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