Here’s what Parfenova says: “The Belarusian Air Force was in 47th place in the 2022 world rankings, and the Armed Forces were in 52nd place. This year (2023), according to American experts, Belarus has already taken 12th place.”
Actually, these words were said by Alexander Tishchenko, the host of the program, who was presented as an expert on national security. It’s obvious from the original video reported that Belarus did rank 47th and 52nd in the 2022 rankings from Global Firepower, which is known for military power estimating.
However, GFP does not provide a certain rating for the Air Force. In 2023, Global Firepower overall ranks Belarus 60th in military strength and 50th in aircraft fleet strength among 145 countries.
How did Belarus manage to get to 12th place? Apparently, “SB. Belarus Today" refers to the article “These Countries Have the Strongest Militaries” by the magazine U.S. News & World Report. This rating was also mentioned by Konstantin Gagarin, the author of the program “Disposition” on the TV channel Belarus 1.
In this very ranking, Belarus is actually given 12th place in the “strong army” category. However, it does not reflect expert opinions but comes from a survey of 17,000 residents of 36 countries who shared their beliefs about life in several countries according to 73 aspects. The survey includes their ideas about a strong army.
In other words, many respondents associate Belarus with a strong army.