Belarus has announced joint military exercises with Russia along its southern border as NATO gathers for a meeting to discuss its concerns about the Russian troop buildup near Ukraine, writes Radio Liberty.

Belarusian Defense Minister Viktar Khrenin said that the exercises would be held on its border with Ukraine in the “medium term”.

He did not provide a date for the exercises with Russia, but suggested they were in response to alleged new military deployments in countries to the west and south of Belarus.

“We see troop formations around our state borders.... We can only be concerned by the militarization of our neighboring countries, which is why we are forced to plan measures in response”, - Khrenin said in comments on his ministry’s website.

NATO has deployed four international battle groups to defend Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia since 2017.