On November 3, 2024, while appearing on the TV Belarus 1 program “Diaspositia”, Gagarin spoke about the ranking published by the American magazine US News and World Report, which supposedly rated the strength of the Belarusian army favorably.
“Recently, the American magazine US News and World Report published a ranking of the world’s strongest armies. And everything would be fine, but Belarus is in 12th place, surpassing most NATO countries. <...> About 17,000 people from around the globe participated in the survey. They evaluated various armies based on 73 characteristics. Points were assigned for each characteristic, which were then totaled. <...> Ultimately, we fall behind giants like Russia, the USA, and China. Ukraine is also ahead,” Gagarin stated.
He further noted that Belarus achieved the same position in the 2023 ranking; however, experts attributed that result to chance or errors in calculations. Gagarin described the current evaluation method as surprisingly objective:
“And now, you can't just dismiss a confirmed result. Particularly, since the selection criteria are unexpectedly objective for the West. <...> And this is no joke: respondents were guided not just by quantitative metrics, but also by the effectiveness of troops in combat, mobilization, economic, international, and informational contexts.”
In September 2024, US News and World Report did indeed publish a ranking that included Belarus. However, it assessed countries overall, not just their armies. The evaluation of the army is just one of 73 criteria, alongside metrics for quality of life, business practices, entrepreneurship, social and cultural aspects, etc.
The ranking of the best countries was compiled on the basis of a survey of 17,000 respondents worldwide. Thus, this is not an expert assessment, but an average indicator of the feelings of people from different countries. The study authors did not explain why the respondents considered the Belarusian army to be stronger than, for example, the Indian army, and the Israeli army to be more powerful than the Chinese army.
In terms of overall country success, Belarus ranked last among 89 countries in this top.