Russia will move its tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus’s borders with its NATO neighbors Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, a Russian diplomat says.
Russia’s Yars RS-24 ICBM, capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads
The weapons will be placed on “the western border of our ‘Union State’ and the chances of ensuring security will increase,” Russian Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov told Belarusian state television on Sunday.
“This will be done despite the noise in Europe and the United States,” added the Russian ambassador, referring to Western criticism of Russia for the agreement that Moscow reached with Minsk at the end of March to station nuclear weapons in Belarusian territory in response to the military support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to Ukraine and the alarming expansion of the military bloc towards the Russian borders.
Gryzlov did not elaborate on where exactly the weapons will be deployed, but confirmed that a warehouse will be completed by July 1, after which it will be moved to western Belarus.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on March 25 his decision to place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, following the announcement by the United Kingdom to supply the Ukrainian forces with depleted uranium ammunition; Although, he qualified that Minsk had previously requested to have such weapons on its soil.
Putin denounced that the United States “has been decades” placing nuclear weapons in six European states, members of the Atlantic Alliance, and assured that the agreement does not violate Russia’s obligations on nuclear non-proliferation.
A response to provocative and aggressive acts by NATO
The announcement, as expected, provoked criticism in the West, to which Russia responded on Friday before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vasili Nebenzia, stressed that the move was a response to the widespread presence of US atomic weapons in European countries and Western military support for Ukraine, acts that he considered “provocative and aggressive.”
Belarus, in turn, defended the deal and threatened to use Russian nuclear missiles if Belarusian territory was threatened with destruction.
Moscow and Minsk lash out at NATO for deploying more weapons and soldiers on their eastern flank, seeing this as a clear threat to their sovereignty.
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