Ukraine called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday to counter Russia’s “nuclear blackmail” after Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus.

The European Union has threatened Minsk with new sanctions if this deployment is carried out, while the United States has indicated that it has “no indication” that Moscow intends to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Belarus, an ally of Moscow, borders Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania.

“Ukraine expects effective actions to counter the Kremlin’s nuclear blackmail from the UK, China, the US and France” as permanent members of the UN Security Council, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement.

“We demand that an extraordinary meeting of the United Nations Security Council be convened immediately for this purpose”, he added, also calling on the G7 and the EU to put pressure on Belarus by threatening it with “consequences considerable” if he were to accept the Russian deployment.

The first Western country to react to Vladimir Putin’s announcement, Germany denounced a “new attempt at nuclear intimidation” on the part of Moscow.

“We are not going to let ourselves be diverted from our course” by these threats, an official from the German Foreign Ministry told AFP on condition of anonymity.

NATO castigated “dangerous and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric”, claiming to “monitor the situation closely”. And the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell denounced an “irresponsible escalation and a threat to European security”, warning that the EU was “ready” to adopt new sanctions against Minsk.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said nothing at this stage would cause the United States “to change (their) position on strategic deterrence”.

Earlier Sunday, the secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council Oleksiï Danilov had estimated that “the Kremlin has (was) taking Belarus as a nuclear hostage” and that the Russian intention represented a “step towards the internal destabilization of the country”, directed since 1994 by Alexander Lukashenko.

Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday that Russia will deploy “tactical” nuclear weapons in Belarus and that ten planes have already been equipped to be ready to use this kind of weaponry.

“There is nothing unusual here: the United States has been doing this for decades. It has long deployed its tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of its allies,” Putin said in an interview with the Russian television.

“We have agreed to do the same”, he added, saying that he planned to “train the crews” from April 3 and “complete the construction of a special warehouse for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of the Belarus” on July 1.

The United States stores nuclear weapons at bases in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. “Tactical” nuclear weapons are less powerful than “strategic” ones, but their effects remain deadly and unpredictable.

Mr. Putin “admits that he is afraid of losing (the war) and that all he can do is scare,” tweeted Mykhaïlo Podoliak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, on Sunday. He also accused the Russian leader of “violating the nuclear non-proliferation treaty”.

Mr. Putin assured that this deployment in Belarus would be done “without contravening our international agreements on nuclear non-proliferation”.

While Belarus is not directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, Moscow has used its territory to conduct its offensive on kyiv in 2022 or to carry out strikes, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Vladimir Putin motivated his decision on Saturday by the United Kingdom’s desire to send depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine, as recently mentioned by a British official.

Mr. Putin threatened to also use this type of shell, used to pierce armor, if kyiv were to receive it. He called this type of weapon shell among “the most dangerous” and which “generates what is called radiation dust”.

Several Russian officials, including former President Dmitry Medvedev, have however threatened Ukraine and Westerners with nuclear weapons since the start of the Russian offensive launched on February 24, 2022.

Russian nuclear doctrine does not provide for the preventive use by Russia of nuclear weapons but only in response to an attack against it or its allies, or in the event of a “threat to the very existence of the state”.

26/03/2023 20:04:16 – Kiev (Ukraine) (AFP) © 2023 AFP