Territorial defense must acquire a nationwide and all-people character
This was stated a year ago by the President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, at a training ground near Grodno. According to the head of state, the tasks of territorial defense should be addressed comprehensively, not when a military threat arises, but starting today. This requires coordinated work of all government bodies.
The fact that the President's words have been put into practice became evident during the territorial defense training, which took place on November 13-14 in Vitebsk. It brought together over 70 people, including heads of law enforcement agencies of the region, chairmen of district and city executive committees, and representatives of enterprises developing innovative defense systems, armaments, and special equipment. Officials from government bodies of other regions and Minsk, as well as the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus, were also invited.
The training began with an organizational meeting, where the Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Alexander Kosinets, summarized the results of territorial defense improvement measures in the Vitebsk region for the current year and outlined tasks for 2013.
Subsequently, the participants visited a checkpoint located on Beshenkovichi Highway. Comprehensive exercises were conducted there, including organizing duty at the checkpoint (CP), its defense against bandit groups, inspection of vehicles capable of transporting weapons and drugs, demining an object filled with unknown explosives, and detaining a sabotage group, among other activities.
A training session on organizing the protection of a territorial defense object, the planned preventive surveillance system, access and internal facility regimes, as well as the elimination of the consequences of a sabotage with a demonstration of special equipment was held at the oil products storage depot No. 1 of RUP "Belorusneft-Vitebskobleneftoprodukt".
The capabilities for limiting a terrorist act, its elimination, and the full-scale recreation of the measures taken to localize fires of oil product tanks were demonstrated here. At the same time, aerial reconnaissance was conducted (a helicopter circled over the base), which transmitted the ongoing events in real-time. This made it possible to promptly coordinate the actions of all services and units, including the work of the special-purpose medical detachment of the Vitebsk Medical University.
Summing up the results of the meeting, the Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Head of Territorial Defense Zone No. 4 Alexander Kosinets noted that the territorial defense forces of the Vitebsk region, which are part of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, performed excellently.
– They are ready to perform the tasks set by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, – emphasized Alexander Nikolaevich. – They are capable of protecting the population, ensuring the functioning of economically important objects, localizing bandit groups, preventing their penetration into the territory of our country, and eliminating them if necessary. For this, today we have everything – trained personnel, weapons, excellent special equipment, and a system of organization and management.
This was confirmed by the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Head of the Territorial Defense Department, Major General Igor Matrashilo.
– The main goal of territorial defense is to ensure the stability of the population's life, the functioning of economic facilities, and transport infrastructure in regions and administrative districts, – said the Major General. – For this, we have the entire composition and complex of forces and means. But in order for these forces and means to interact effectively when needed, training events are held in all regions. In the Vitebsk region, they were held at a high professional level, representatives of law enforcement agencies showed their training and readiness to complete the assigned task at any moment.
Photo by Dmitry OSIPOV.
“VR”