'They Drink A Lot, Sell Their Fuel': Russian Troops Leave Belarusian People Unimpressed

As Russia moves into Ukraine marking the start of the invasion, it has deployed over 30,000 troops in neighboring Belarus for joint drills.

But, the drill and their "indefinite stay" in the country has not gone down well with many Belarusian people, who complain about the drinking and littering habits of the Russians, reported Radio Free Europe.

A resident of the Belarusian town of Khoyniki near the Ukrainian border claims he has seen "with my own eyes the movement of tracked military vehicles on the streets of the city."

"The soldiers have settled in the surrounding forests. They drink a lot and sell a lot of their diesel fuel. They are living in tents," the resident, who doesn't want to be identified, told the news outlet.

Russian troops arrived in Belarus earlier by mid-January, after both countries agreed on a joint drill. Over 30,000 Russians poured into the ally nation, which NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called "the biggest Russian deployment there since the Cold War."

Though the military exercises were said to last only until Feb. 20 after which the troops were expected to leave, it has not happened. Three days ago, the Belarus Defense Ministry said the Russians will remain in the country indefinitely.

According to the report, Khoyniki, some 50 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border, was not originally on the Belarusian Defense Ministry's map for the exercises. However, the map was changed on Feb. 10 after Russian forces were spotted in the region.

Four days later, Russians began unloading military equipment in Khoyniki. According to a Telegram channel that covers Belarus railroads, soldiers do not move from the tracks despite other trains approaching within 200 meters of them.

"The engineers nearly have to apply their emergency brakes to avoid running them over," said Radio Free Europe report, quoting the channel.

The hardware movement also damaged the loading ramps, rolling stock and other railroad equipment. "Military equipment is frequently dropped from the platforms during unloading. After unloading, a lot of abandoned equipment -- body armor, helmets, personal gear -- remained," the channel wrote.

The troops also left the railroads extremely dirty. "Over a stretch of 3 kilometers there were 100-liter trash bags every 20 meters, as well vodka bottles, empty plastic beer kegs and empty cookie packages," the Telegram channel reported.

According to a member of the channel, the state railway then declared a Saturday "emergency" working day so that the railway workers could clean up everything after our "brothers."

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced an initial set of sanctions against two Russian banks and the country's wealthy elite after what he said was Moscow's move to invade Ukraine.