‘Irresponsible behaviour’: Russia moves tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus

1 week ago 18

By Guy Faulconbridge

May 26, 2023 — 2.44pm

Moscow: Russia has acted connected a agelong threatened program to deploy tactical atomic weapons successful Belarus, successful the Kremlin’s archetypal deployment of specified bombs extracurricular Russia since the 1991 autumn of the Soviet Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the program successful an interrogation connected authorities tv connected March 25.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (left) and his Belarusian counterpart, Viktor Khrenin, conscionable successful Minsk connected Thursday.

Putin insists the US and its allies are warring an expanding proxy warfare against Russia aft he sent troops into Ukraine 15 months ago.

“The corporate West is fundamentally waging an undeclared warfare against our countries,” Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said astatine a gathering with his Belarusian counterpart successful Minsk, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.

The West, Shoigu said, was doing each it could “to prolong and escalate the equipped struggle successful Ukraine”.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said that tactical atomic weapons were already connected the determination successful accordance with an bid signed by Putin, though determination was nary confirmation of that from the Kremlin.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin clasp astatine the Kremlin past month.

“The question of the atomic weapons has already begun,” Lukashenko told reporters successful Moscow, wherever helium was attending talks with the leaders of different ex-Soviet states.

Asked if the weapons were already successful his country, Lukashenko said: “Possibly. When I get backmost I volition check.”

Shoigu said the documents helium was signing successful Minsk acrophobic the process for storing the weapons successful Belarus. Russia would stay successful power of the weapons.

He said Russia had handed Iskander-M missiles, which tin transportation accepted oregon atomic warheads, to the Belarusian equipped forces, and immoderate Su-25 craft had been converted for the imaginable usage of atomic weapons.

A Belarusian aerial unit aviator speaks astatine an unidentified determination past month.

“Belarusian servicemen person received the indispensable training,” Shoigu was quoted arsenic saying by his ministry.

The US State Department denounced the deployment plan, but said Washington had nary volition of altering its presumption connected strategical atomic weapons oregon had seen immoderate signs Russia was preparing to usage a atomic weapon.

Spokesman Matthew Miller described the plans arsenic “the latest illustration of irresponsible behaviour that we person seen from Russia since its full-scale penetration of Ukraine implicit a twelvemonth ago”.

Miller repeated Washington’s informing that usage of chemical, biologic oregon atomic weapons successful the struggle would beryllium met with “severe consequences”, without specifying those consequences.

Putin has repeatedly warned that Russia, which has much atomic weapons than immoderate different country, volition usage each means to support itself, and helium has formed the Ukraine warfare arsenic a conflict for the endurance of Russia against an assertive West.

The US and its allies accidental they privation Ukraine to decision Russian forces connected the battlefield, but contradict that they privation to destruct Russia – and contradict that the Ukraine war is successful immoderate mode linked to post-Soviet enlargement of NATO.

Belarus has borders with 3 NATO members: Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

Such weapons are utilized for tactical gains connected the battlefield, and are usually smaller successful output than the strategical atomic weapons designed to destruct American oregon Russian cities.

Russian equipped forces transport a Yars strategical rocket launcher to an undisclosed determination successful Russia.

The US believes Russia has astir 2000 specified moving tactical warheads, to its 200, fractional of which are astatine bases successful Europe.

The US has said the satellite faces the gravest atomic information since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis due to the fact that of remarks by Putin during the Ukraine conflict.

The Treaty connected the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, signed by the Soviet Union successful 1968, says that nary atomic powerfulness tin transportation atomic weapons oregon exertion to a non-nuclear power, but it does let for the weapons to beryllium deployed extracurricular its borders but nether its control.

Reuters

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