Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday, noting that for the first time since the mid-1990s Moscow will deploy such weapons outside the country.
Putin made the announcement amid rising tensions with the West over the war in Ukraine and speculation by some Russian commentators about possible nuclear strikes.
“Tactical” nukes discuss with weapons used for specific benefits on the battlefield, to not destroy cities. It just isn’t clear what number of such weapons Russia provided, that is an area still shrouded in mystery of the Cold War.
Experts told Reuters the development was significant because Russia had to this point prided itself on not having deployed nuclear weapons beyond its borders, unlike the United States.
The U.S. Department of Defense said it could proceed to observe the situation.
“We saw no reason to regulate our own strategic nuclear posture, nor any signs that Russia was preparing to make use of nuclear weapons,” the statement said.
Putin told state television that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had long raised the issue of stationing tactical nuclear weapons in his country.
“There’s nothing unusual here either: firstly, the US has been doing this for a long time. They’ve been deploying their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries for a protracted time,” he said.
“We agreed that we will do the same – without violating our obligations, I emphasize, without violating our international non-proliferation obligations.”
Putin didn’t specify when the weapons would arrive in Belarus, which borders three NATO members – Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
“It’s a part of Putin’s game to attempt to intimidate NATO … because doing it in Belarus has no military purpose, because Russia has so many such weapons and forces in Russia,” said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons condemned what it called a particularly dangerous escalation.
“In the context of the war in Ukraine, the likelihood of miscalculation or misinterpretation is amazingly high. Sharing nuclear weapons greatly aggravates the situation and threatens with catastrophic humanitarian consequences,” the tweet said.
Russia and Belarus have close military ties, and Minsk allowed Moscow to make use of Belarusian territory to send troops to Ukraine last yr. In January this yr, each nations intensified joint military training.
Kiev says it cannot rule out an attack from Belarus, however it doesn’t have enough forces there for an offensive straight away, and Lukashenko would really like his troops to remain out of the war despite pressure from Moscow.
As a part of the agreement announced by Putin, Russia will complete the construction of a tactical nuclear weapons repository in Belarus by July 1.
“We will not be handing over (weapons). And the United States doesn’t give (them) to its allies. Mainly, we’re doing what they have been doing for a decade,” Putin said.
“They’ve allies in some countries they usually train… their crews. We will do the same.”
Russia is stationing 10 aircraft able to carrying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Putin said, adding that Moscow has already provided Belarus with plenty of Iskander tactical missile systems able to firing nuclear weapons.
“This can be a very significant move,” said Nikolai Sokol, a senior fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation. “Russia has all the time been very proud that it has no nuclear weapons outside its territory. So now yes, they’re changing that and it’s a giant change.”
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, nuclear weapons were deployed in 4 newly independent states: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
In May 1992, the 4 states agreed that each one weapons ought to be positioned in Russia, and the transfer of warheads from Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan was accomplished in 1996.