NATO condemned Vladimir Putin on Sunday for his “dangerous nuclear rhetoric” after the Russian president announced plans to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. The move, while not unexpected, is one of the most significant nuclear steps taken by Russia so far and a warning to the Atlantic Alliance about its military support for Ukraine, which has called a UN Security Council meeting in response to the decision of Russia and its neighbor.
“Russia’s nuclear rhetoric is dangerous and irresponsible,” NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said on Sunday. However, for now the Alliance will not take any action in this regard: “NATO is attentive and we are closely monitoring the situation. We have not seen any change in Russia’s nuclear posture that would lead us to adjust ours,” she said.
When talking about “tactical” nuclear weapons, we are referring to those that can be used for specific gains on the battlefield, and not those that have the capacity to destroy cities. It is unclear how many such weapons Russia has, as the issue is still shrouded in Cold War secrecy.
Putin compared his Belarus plan on Saturday to the US’s parking of weapons in Europe, insisting that Russia would not violate its nuclear non-proliferation pledges. However, Lungescu claimed that Putin’s non-proliferation pledge and his description of US deployment of weapons abroad were far from reality. “Russia’s reference to the NATO nuclear exchange is totally misleading. NATO allies act in full respect of their international commitments,” he added in a statement. Instead, “Russia has consistently failed to meet its arms control commitments.”
From Ukraine, its security chief, Oleksiy Danilov, predicted that Moscow’s plans would destabilize Belarus, a country that, he said, had been taken “hostage” by Putin. The Russian president assured that his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Luchashenko, has long called on Russia to deploy tactical weapons on his territory.
Lithuania, one of the three NATO member countries that shares a border with Belarus along with Lithuania and Poland, also condemned Putin’s decision and called for new sanctions against Moscow and Minsk, while the European Union’s head of diplomacy, Josep Borrell , urged Belarus not to harbor the weapons and threatened further sanctions.
Belarus, a 29-year dictatorship shrouded by unfair elections, and Russia have close military ties, and Minsk allowed Moscow to use its territory as a staging ground for the latter’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
Experts view Russia’s move as significant as it has prided itself, until now, on not having deployed nuclear weapons outside its borders, unlike the United States. This may be the first time since the mid-1990s that he plans to do so.
The United States, also a nuclear superpower, played down concerns about Russia’s planned deployment. “I can tell you that we have not seen anything to indicate that Mr. Putin is preparing to use tactical nuclear weapons in any way in Ukraine,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the broadcaster on Sunday. CBC. “And I can also tell you that we haven’t seen anything that would make us change our own strategic nuclear deterrence posture,” he added.
