According to information from Ukraine, Russia is now to station nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus. This has consequences for the Ukraine war
Kiev – The first time since the 1990s Russia have nuclear weapons stationed abroad. According to the director of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, the first Russian nuclear warheads have been delivered to Belarus. That happened days ago, he said in an interview on Thursday (August 31).
He classifies this move as a deterrent. In advance it would apparently have exercises in Belarus given in which a nuclear strike was simulated. According to Budanov, an evaluation of the exercises showed that the Belarusian army was not prepared for the use of nuclear weapons.
Information on nuclear weapons in Belarus often contradictory
Whether the information from Ukrainian military intelligence is correct is difficult to say. There have already been contradictory statements about the stationing of nuclear weapons in Belarus in the past.
On May 25, Russia and Belarus signed an agreement to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, said the same day that the first nuclear weapons were already being delivered to his country. The Russian President Wladimir Putin only announced on June 16 that the first nuclear warheads had arrived in Belarus.
“Putin’s statement is another step towards destabilizing the country,” tweeted Oleksiy Danilov, chairman of the National Defense and Security Council. The Kremlin took Belarus as a nuclear hostage.
Concern about a nuclear war drives
Russia is bound by international treaties like this Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, according to which it must not proliferate nuclear weapons. According to Putin, however, these treaties would not be violated, since nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus remain in Russia’s possession. He also noted in March that the USAalso bound by the blocking contract, proceed in a similar way.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many have been concerned about a nuclear war. Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said on August 22 that Russia’s shipment of short-range nuclear weapons to Belarus was changing the regional security fabric. However, he still doesn’t believe in one nuclear strike. The federal government was also alarmed at the beginning of March. The Foreign Office spoke of a “further attempt at nuclear intimidation”.
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