A group of “senior military officers in a Special Forces unit” are rebelling against Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and they are “openly” speaking out against joining Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The top military officers of the unit have written an open letter to the President Alexander Lukashenko “openly speaking against potential Belarusian participation in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

However Alex Kokcharox, a country risk analyst specialising in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus  has suggested this letter could be a hoax, “staged” by Lukashenko to show the Russian leader “why he is unable to join Russia’s war in Ukraine.”

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This comes as last week  Putin savaged the Belarusian President calling him “stupid” warned him and then Lukashenko broke down in tears after being pressured to join the “special operation” in Ukraine.

The General SVR Telegram channel which is run by an insider of the Kremlin said there was a very heated rage from Putin towards Lukashenko, where it was reported it did “not go as smoothly as it might appear.”

Kokcharoc shared an image of the unverified letter to Twitter, writing, “In #Belarus, a group of senior military officers in a Special Forces unit, in the ranks from captain to colonel, reportedly signed an open letter to the de facto ruler Lukashenka, openly speaking against potential Belarusian participation in #Russia’s invasion of #Ukraine.

“While it is possible that this letter is genuine, there is also another possibility.

“This could be easily staged by Lukashenka to demonstrate to Putin on why he is unable to join Russia’s war in Ukraine.”

Over the past four months Lukashenko has sent many mixed messages from threatening to join the war to wanting to stage peace talks.

The President of Belarus has now told Putin that he “must deploy nuclear weapons” to pushback the West as Lukashenko is fearful of a build up of Western forces around his borders.

During a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Lukashenko said, “Russia should be ready to deploy nuclear weapons to counter the West’s global hegemony.”

The pair met in a one on one meeting in Minsk where Lukashenko discussed the security and foreign policy and accused the West of promoting bias amid the ongoing war, according to Belarusian state-owned agency BelTA.

Lukashenko said, “We must be ready.  In the year 1941, you and I did not take part. But we have the historical memory.

“When we thought, believed, that is why we believe. But we must remain alert in all areas.”

The Russian Foreign Minister said, “Russia and Belarus will firmly maintain that their legitimate security interests in an era when NATO continues to act very aggressively are respected.

“We always stand for dialogue.

“We always stand for the decisions that ensure equality and balance of interests.”