In March, Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of nuclear weapons to Belarus. According to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Russia has already started the transfer of nuclear charges. So far, the Kremlin has made no comment.
“The transfer of nuclear charges has started, it has already started,” said Alexander Lukashenko, answering a question from a Russian journalist in a video broadcast by the unofficial Telegram channel of the Belarusian presidency, Pul Pervogo.
Alexander Lukashenko, who was in Moscow on Thursday for a regional summit, was unable to say whether the weapons in question were already in his country. “Maybe I’ll go back and see,” said the Belarusian leader and main Russian ally. Alexander Lukashenko explained that Vladimir Putin had told him the day before that he had signed the decree allowing the transfer.
The Russian president announced on March 25 that Moscow would deploy “tactical” nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, a country located on the doorstep of the European Union, fueling fears of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. The announcement had sparked criticism from the international community, Westerners in particular, especially since the Russian leader has since the start of his assault on his Ukrainian neighbor in February 2022 raised the possibility of recourse to atomic weapons. .
Opponent in exile Svetlana Tikhanovskaya denounced Thursday a threat to the entire European continent. “This not only endangers the lives of Belarusians, but also creates a new threat to Ukraine, to all of Europe,” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya wrote on Twitter. “When it comes to tactical nukes, most are as powerful as the one that killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima,” she added. So-called “tactical” nuclear weapons can cause immense damage, but their radius of destruction is more limited than that of “strategic” nuclear weapons.
In addition, Vladimir Putin has reported in the past that ten aircraft have already been equipped in Belarus for the use of such weapons and that a special warehouse will be completed by July 1. The country is not directly engaged on the ground in Ukraine but has lent its territory to the Russian army so that it can launch its assault in February 2022.