This Friday the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, did not rule out asking his allies in the Russian Government for strategic nuclear weapons, alleging that he would only make this request if necessary to defend Belarusian sovereignty. This comes a week after Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of Russian-owned nuclear weapons.
According to President Lukashenko, Western countries must understand this measure taken by both countries, in addition to not considering “destabilizing the situation.” “The scoundrels abroad must understand (…) If necessary, we with Putin will decide and introduce strategic nuclear weapons,” he said during his annual address to the National Assembly.
Last week Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a plan to place tactical nuclear weapons in his neighbor and ally Belarus. According to The Associated Press, the Kremlin leader said he was responding to a decision by Britain last week to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing shells containing depleted uranium.
In addition, Putin alleges that the United States carries out these same actions in countries of the European Union that are allies of Ukraine and the West, such as Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Greece. The head of the Russian Government assured that control over tactical nuclear weapons will be maintained, and also the construction of storage facilities for them in Belarus would be completed on July 1.
Now this Friday Russia defended before the Security Council of the United National Organization (UN) the agreement with Belarus to deploy nuclear weapons. The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vasili Nebenzia, reiterated that this measure is a response to the extensive presence of US atomic weapons on European territory.
Given these measures that favor the “nuclear blackmail discourse” of both countries, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) stated last week that they do not see changes in Russia’s nuclear posture that would cause a review of the arsenal or the criteria of the Atlantic organization after Moscow announced its agreement with Belarus.
The spokeswoman for the Alliance, Oana Lungescu, told the EFE news agency that she is monitoring the situation in both countries closely, although so far they have not seen any change in Russia’s nuclear posture that would lead them to adjust the criteria of the NATOs.
With information from EFE and AP
Keep reading:
- Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus
- NATO sees no change in Russia’s nuclear posture after war deployment in Belarus
- Ukraine demands an emergency UN meeting on Putin’s nuclear plan