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Belarus Russian Troops
The removal from Belarusian territory of both strategic
nuclear arms and tens of thousands of Russian soldiers is
a task
as delicate and problematic as it is important if Belarus
is to
achieve its stated constitutional goal of neutrality.
In 1993 there were an estimated 40,000 troops of the
Russian
air force in Belarus comprising one air division with 130
combat
aircraft. This consisted of one regiment with thirty Su-24
fighter-bombers, one heavy bomber division of four
regiments with
fifteen Tu-22M Backfire bombers and fifty Tu-22
medium-range
bombers, and one regiment with twenty Tu-22M Backfire
bombers and
fifteen Tu-16 medium-range bombers.
Most of these troops were engaged in work related to
the
seventy-two strategic nuclear missiles based at Lida and
Mazyr
and were scheduled to leave Belarus in 1995, the
anticipated
deadline for transferring all nuclear weapons to Russia.
This
transfer depended greatly on housing being built for the
troops
in Russia and in midyear was viewed as unrealistic. An
October
1994 announcement stated that two Russian nonnuclear
military
installations would remain in Belarus.
Despite the creation of a Belarusian army, Belarus had
to
contend with the fact that the bulk of its officer corps
remained
composed of ethnic Russians. However, the reduction of
troops
from 1993 to 1995 included a reduction in the number of
officers,
which meant fewer ethnic Russian generals.
Data as of June 1995
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