Belarus starts receiving Russian tactical nuclear weapons
Europe, News June 15, 2023 1 Comment on Belarus starts receiving Russian tactical nuclear weaponsBelarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on June 14, 2023, that his country has started taking deliveries of Russian tactical nuclear weapons. The deployment of nuclear weapons in another country is Moscow’s first-ever such move since the early 1990s.
During an interview with Russian and Belarusian media reporters, Lukashenko said that “We have missiles and bombs that we have received from Russia.” He added that some of the deployed tactical weapons are “three times more powerful than the atomic bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the deployment of nuclear weapons would commence as soon as the storage facilities are ready in Belarus. He added that Moscow would retain control of all the weapons deployed beyond Russian soil. Lukashenko, however, played down the idea of Russia’s control over tactical weapons during his media talk and said that he and Putin could pick up the phone to each other “at any moment.”
Lukashenko promised to blindfold Skabeyeva and take her to the nuclear weapons storage.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 14, 2023
He said that the tactical nuclear weapons to be placed in Belarus are three times more powerful than the bombs the USA used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
To coordinate with Russia launching a… pic.twitter.com/hD2QzkrGm5
In March 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in the neighboring ally country of Belarus. Moscow’s deployment is being perceived as another nuclear threat by the NATO allies.
In an agreement signed between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Belarusian counterpart Viktor Khrenin last month, it was unveiled that Russian-made Iskander-M missiles, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, had been handed to the Belarusian armed forces, and some Su-25 aircraft had been converted for the possible use of nuclear weapons.
Putin compares Russia’s deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus to the U.S.’s deployment of similar weapons in Europe, stating that the move does not violate Russia’s nuclear non-proliferation obligations. Russia has helped Belarus upgrade 10 aircraft capable of carrying tactical nuclear warheads. The Russian air force has also been training Belarusian pilots to fly the re-configured planes.
“There is nothing unusual here, first of all, the U.S. has been doing this for decades,” Putin said during an interview earlier this year. “They placed their tactical nuclear weapons in six different allied NATO countries in Europe. We have agreed to do the same thing, without, I stress, violating our international non-proliferation obligations,” the Russian president stated.
Belarus shares a border with Russia on its east and Ukraine on its west. Russian forces used Belarus as a launchpad to initiate an attack on Ukraine’s northern regions in February 2022. Deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus fulfills Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s longstanding request.
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[…] war. Last month, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced that his country has started taking deliveries of Russian tactical nuclear weapons. Moscow’s nuclear weapons deployment in Belarus is being perceived as another nuclear threat by […]