In his arm wrestling with the West, Vladimir Putin brings up the nuclear threat. The Russian President said on Saturday that Moscow would deploy “tactical” nuclear weapons on the territory of its ally Belarus, a country on the doorstep of the European Union.
Russian officials have repeatedly issued thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine if the conflict escalates significantly. Belarus has been led by Alexander Lukashenko since 1994 and borders Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania.
“Ten aircraft are ready to use this type of weapon”
“There is nothing unusual here: the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long stationed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies,” the Kremlin master said in an interview broadcast on Russian television. “We agreed to do the same,” he added, saying he had the Minsk agreement. Belarus is not directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, but Moscow used its territory to lead its offensive on Kiev last year or to conduct strikes, according to Ukrainian authorities.
“We have already helped our Belarusian colleagues and equipped their planes (…) without violating our international commitments on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Ten planes are ready to use this type of weapon,” Vladimir Putin continued, after which Moscow also deployed Iskander missiles. “From April 3rd we will start training the crews. And on July 1 we will complete the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus,” he added.
According to Vladimir Putin, this decision was motivated by London’s desire to send depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine, as recently mentioned by a British official. The Russian President threatened to also use this type of shells, which are used to pierce armor, if Kiev were to receive them.
“Of course, Russia has something to answer for. Without exaggeration, we have hundreds of thousands of such shells. We’re not using them at the moment,” he said. Vladimir Putin also called this type of weapon bullets one of the “most dangerous” and that “create what is called radiation dust”.