Putin says he will deploy ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons in Belarus

The Russian President claims that “there is nothing unprecedented” and cites that “the United States has been doing this for decades”.

Ilya PITALEV / SPUTNIK / AFP
Putin says Moscow plans to deploy “tactical” nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory

the President of Russia, Wladimir PutinThat’s what he said this Saturday, April 25 Moscow plans to install “tactical” nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, an allied neighboring country Ukraine and with countries from European Union (HH). The Russian President had previously made veiled threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, reviving fears of the Cold War. Putin also threatened to order the use of depleted uranium shells in the Ukrainian country if the European country got these types of weapons from the West. That’s because the United Kingdom had mentioned this possibility. “There is nothing new here: the US they’ve been doing this for decades. They have stationed their tactical nuclear weapons on their allies’ territory for a long time,” the Russian president said in an interview shown on national television. “We decided to do the same,” he added, assuring that he had the support of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. “Without violating our international agreements on nonproliferation of nuclear weapons (…), ten aircraft are ready to use this type of weapon,” he said. Russia will begin training air crews on April 3 and plans to complete the construction of a special tactical nuclear weapons storage facility on July 1. Belarus borders Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, three EU and Organization of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO).