Putin Heads to Belarus Amid Fears Troops Could be Dragged Into Ukraine WarRussian President Vladimir Putin will today travel to Belarus for the first time in three years, with the strongman expected to lobby Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko to do more to help Moscow escape its quagmire in Ukraine.An early December visit by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu—who traveled to Belarus again on Monday to accompany Putin—may have included a push for Lukashenko to join the invasion, Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov said.A recent ISW report said that the Belarusian military has likely been weakened by their logistical support for the Russian invasion and that there is scant enthusiasm among Belarusian units to face the same fate as their better-trained and better-equipped Russian counterparts who have suffered badly on Ukrainian battlefields."We are concerned about such a possibility, especially on the eve of the first anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion into Ukraine," Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian lawmaker and chair of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, told Newsweek of potential Belarusian aggression.At the same time, I believe that Lukashenko is smart enough to understand that direct participation of Belarus in war against Ukraine will have terrible consequences for him personally and for Belarus," Merezhko said."