(ANSA-AFP) - MOSCOW, FEB 10 - Russia and Belarus launched joint military drills Thursday that had raised concerns in Western countries with fears that Moscow is plotting a major escalation in the conflict in Ukraine. Russia's defence ministry said in a statement that the exercises scheduled to continue until February 20 in Belarus had begun and would centre around "suppressing and repelling external aggression".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Western threats towards Moscow would do nothing to ease tensions over Ukraine. "Ideological approaches, ultimatums, threats -- this is the road to nowhere," Lavrov said at the start of talks with his British counterpart Liz Truss in Moscow. (ANSA-AFP).