“Nuclear Weapons Positioned in Belarus by Putin with Ten Ready-to-Fire Planes Already in Place”

According to Putin, these are tactical nuclear weapons. He says he does not violate international law and makes the comparison with the United States, which has nuclear weapons stored in several European countries. For example, it is an open secret that there are American warheads in Volkel in Brabant.

Tactical nuclear weapons have been developed specifically for use on the battlefield and are much smaller than a classic nuclear bomb. But they can wreak far more havoc than conventional weapons.

Belarus – which, in addition to Ukraine and Russia, borders NATO countries Lithuania, Latvia and Poland – is not allowed to possess nuclear weapons according to international treaties. President Aleksandr Lukashenko of that country has called for the stationing of nuclear weapons several times, according to Putin. “We agreed with him that we will place them in Belarus, without violating the non-proliferation treaty,” Putin said. That international treaty – also signed by Russia – aims to limit the number of nuclear weapons in the world and the number of countries that have them. The Russian leader points out that the weapons do not end up in Belarusian hands or can be used by the country.

“This is part of Putin’s game to intimidate NATO,” said director of the nuclear division of the Federation of American Scientists against Reuters news agency. “Because it makes no military sense to do this in Belarus. Russia has so many of these weapons in its own country.” International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is concerned. “In the context of the war in Ukraine, the probability of a miscalculation or misunderstanding is extremely high,” the organization tweeted. “Sharing nuclear weapons makes the situation much worse and can cause a catastrophe with major humanitarian consequences.”

The Americans say they have no indication that Russia or Belarus wants to use the weapons. “We have seen the reports of the announcement and will monitor it,” a spokesman for the US Defense Department said in a statement. It also states that the ministry sees no reason whatsoever to adjust its own nuclear weapons strategy.

Lukashenko is a staunch ally of Putin and supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He is politically and economically dependent on Moscow. Belarus has already had ten Russian bombers capable of firing tactical nuclear weapons. At the start of the Russian invasion in February last year, part of the troops entered Ukraine via Belarus. According to the United States, the two had been discussing the new nuclear weapons deal for “some time”.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan each received their share of nuclear weapons. Shortly afterwards, they jointly decided that those nuclear weapons should be stationed in Russia. Since 1996, the three smaller countries no longer have nuclear weapons of their own. Until recently, Russia was openly proud that – unlike the US – it did not station weapons in other countries.