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March 26, 2023 | 5:49 p.m
Ukraine on Sunday called an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry condemned Putin’s plot in a statement and said it “expects effective measures to counter UK, China, US and France’s nuclear blackmail against the Kremlin.”
“The world must unite against anyone who threatens the future of human civilization,” the statement said.
In a saber-rattling interview on state television on Saturday, Putin said the move to base the weapons in Belarus was intended as a warning to the West after Britain last week decided to send armor-piercing depleted uranium shells to Ukrainian forces.
Russia will retain control of the weapons, Putin said. The storage facilities would be ready by July 1st.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said the maneuver would undermine the nuclear non-proliferation treaties. Putin has denied this.
Putin announced his decision to transfer nuclear weapons to Belarus on Russian state television Saturday.ZUMAPRESS.com
A White House spokesman said the Biden administration is closely monitoring the issue, noting that the US has seen no evidence that Putin moved the guns or that he plans to use them against Ukrainians.
“We haven’t seen anything that would cause us to change our own strategic deterrent posture,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday.
Putin claimed he is doing nothing the US hasn’t done in decades – Washington has nuclear weapons in Belgium, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey.
“We’re doing what they’ve been doing for decades, deploying them to certain allied countries, preparing the launch pads and training their crews,” he said.
NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu dismissed the Russian strongman’s testimony as “entirely misleading”.
“NATO Allies are acting in full respect of their international obligations,” said Lungescu in a tweet. “Russia has consistently broken its arms control commitments.”
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The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Putin’s tactical nuclear weapons plan is part of an information campaign aimed at increasing Western fears of a nuclear escalation, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But this risk remains extremely low.
“Russia has long deployed nuclear-capable weapons capable of hitting any target that tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus could hit,” the institute wrote. “Putin is a risk-averse actor who repeatedly threatens to use nuclear weapons with no intention of doing so.”
The Russian despot said on Saturday that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had long requested the weapons.
Lukashenko did not publicly comment on the announcement.
Belarus remains a close ally of Moscow, and the country of more than 9 million people has acted as a springboard for many of its larger neighbor’s attacks on Ukraine.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had long requested the weapons, Putin claimed. AFP via Getty Images
Putin said Russia modernized Belarus’ military aircraft squadrons last year, leaving about 10 aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
A blast that injured three people in Russia on Sunday further increased tensions, with Moscow blaming a Ukrainian drone for the blast.
With mail wires
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