The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, ordered the creation of "people's militia" squads in every village council. He announced this while watching the training of one such unit in the Verkhnedvinsk region, BELTA reports. "We need to expand. It is necessary to create similar main detachments in other places at the same time. They should be connected with each other," Lukashenko said. According to him, this is necessary so that Belarusians can protect themselves, their family and their place of residence in case of military operations. Lukashenko clarified that the "people's militia" will become the first level of the country's defense system. Higher up will be territorial defense, which is responsible for infrastructure protection, and the army. According to Lukashenko, the whole system should be managed by him. "By creating this structure, I meant that there should be a people's militia detachment in every village council. That is the nucleus. In case of military operations, that core can be expanded... Ammunition is prepared for you in advance. That is the business of the military. You will have a machine gun, grenades, a machine gun," Lukashenko said. Earlier, he instructed the leadership of the Belarusian Hunters and Fishermen's Association to recruit people with the skills to handle weapons into the "militia" squads. The creation of the "people's militia" in Belarus began after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The Minister of Defense of the Republic Viktor Khrenin cited the "military-political situation" as the reason for such a decision and stated that it should show the potential opponent that "you should not poke your nose" into the territory of Belarus, because "the response will be adequate". ``I'm here.'' Since the beginning of 2026, the Belarusian authorities have activated the training exercises of the security forces and the military. Among them, during such maneuvers, operations are being developed in the conditions of military mobilization and "large number of victims" missile attacks, as well as measures to protect the population and territories from emergency situations during wartime. others. In the summer, exercises were held in the Vitebsk region with the participation of the "people's militia" and territorial defense.