Russia’s Deepening Belarus Ties Squeeze Western-Backed Ukraine

BRUSSELS—Russia’s deepening integration with Belarus is presenting a clean army threat to Western-backed Ukraine, which Moscow is seeking to draw again into its orbit.

Russia has been conducting huge joint army routines with Belarus, whose authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, weakened by mass avenue protests and Western sanctions, has ceded considerably political and financial command of his country to Moscow. The routines, which Russia says are defensive in character and require some two hundred,000 troops, showcased nearer army ties on Ukraine’s northern flank.