Belarus has taken on a significant role in training mobilised Russian reservists due to a lack of military instructors in Russia — British intelligence

On December 19, Putin visited Minsk to hold talks with Lukashenko. At the meeting, the parties discussed the "common defence space".

Intelligence believes that despite the considerable experience of military cooperation between Russia and Belarus, the training of mobilised Russians by Belarusians is a change of roles. 

Russia has traditionally considered Belarusian forces inferior to Russian ones, so their use as instructors signifies "overstretching the Russian military system".

Photo: Reuters