Putin’s Statement on the Deployment of Nuclear Weapons in Belarus: World Reaction and the Threat to Ukraine

Ukraine demands that the UN Security Council be convened in response to Russia’s intention to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. This is stated in an official statement by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. “Our diplomats call on all members of the international community to convey to the criminal Putin regime the categorical unacceptability of its latest nuclear provocations.

Germany has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of attempting nuclear intimidation. And the American Institute for the Study of War calls Putin’s actions a bluff.

Read more about what is happening and what the countries’ leaders say about it in the article.

The Kremlin has taken Belarus as a nuclear hostage, as Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, characterized Putin’s statement about deploying tactical nuclear weapons there.

According to Putin, training of Iskander crews capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons will begin in Belarus in a week. The dictator tells fables that this will be done at the request of the Belarusian side and without violating the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

– Everything that the president of Belarus asked for, all the questions he asked in this regard, are being implemented – says the Kremlin dictator.

Putin insists: Minsk will not gain control over nuclear weapons. At the same time, he says, Russia has already helped to re-equip 10 Belarusian military aircraft for the use of tactical nuclear weapons. It is unclear whether Belarusians or Russians will fly them.

Putin chose the British announcement that they would supply depleted uranium shells to Ukraine as a pretext for further escalation. Experts remind that international organizations do not ban such shells. They are three times heavier than conventional shells, so they are more armor-piercing but have nothing to do with nuclear weapons. In addition, Russia itself has depleted uranium munitions in its arsenal, and according to some reports, it has already used them in Ukraine.

– On July 1, we will complete the construction of a particular storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, – Putin said.

The range of Iskander missiles is about 500 kilometers, and they can hit both Ukraine and neighboring EU countries from Belarus. Putin claims that this is a response to US actions. However, the Americans keep only a tiny number of free-fall tactical nuclear bombs in Turkey and some Western European countries.

The German Foreign Ministry has already called Putin’s argument misleading. And the Pentagon has stated that there are no signs that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons.

– We have seen no reason to adjust our strategic nuclear posture and no indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons, – the Pentagon said.

The American Institute for the Study of War writes that deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is another information operation to fuel the Western world’s fears of nuclear escalation. According to the Institute, Putin is deliberately exaggerating the capabilities of the Russian military-industrial complex to make Western countries think it is futile to spend resources supporting Ukraine.