Belarus has begun taking delivery of tactical nuclear weapons from Russia, including some that are three times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945.
It is believed to be the first time Moscow has moved such weapons – shorter-ranged and less powerful nuclear weapons that could potentially be used on the battlefield – outside Russia’s borders since the fall of the Soviet Union.
“We have missiles and bombs that we have received from Russia,” Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 Russian state TV channel.
“The bombs are three times more powerful than those [dropped on] Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” he said, speaking on a road in a forest clearing with military vehicles parked nearby and what appeared to be a military storage facility in the background.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, on Friday said Moscow, which will retain control of the tactical nuclear weapons, would start deploying them in Belarus after special storage facilities to house them were made ready.
The Russian leader announced in March that he had agreed to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, pointing to the US deployment of similar weapons in several European countries over many decades.
The US has criticised Putin’s decision but has said it has no intention of altering its own stance on strategic nuclear weapons and has not seen any signs that Russia is preparing to use an atomic weapon.
The Russian step is nonetheless being watched closely by the US and its allies as well as by China, which has repeatedly cautioned against the use of nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.
Mr Lukashenko, a close Putin ally, told Russian state TV that his country had numerous nuclear storage facilities left over from the Soviet-era and had restored several of them.
He played down the idea that Russian control of the weapons was an impediment to using them quickly if he felt such a move was necessary, saying he and Putin could pick up the phone to each other “at any moment”.
Mr Lukashenko, who has allowed his country to be used by Russian forces attacking Ukraine, says the nuclear deployment will act as a deterrent against potential aggressors.
Speaking on Wednesday, he said his country would enter the conflict in Ukraine if it was attacked, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMibmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay93b3JsZC1uZXdzLzIwMjMvMDYvMTQvcnVzc2lhbi1udWNsZWFyLXdlYXBvbi1tb3JlLXBvd2VyZnVsLWhpcm9zaGltYS1ib21iLWJlbGFydXMv0gEA?oc=5
2023-06-14 11:28:00Z
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