The alliance between Russia and Belarus will be sealed in the future with the installation of Russian nuclear weapons on its neighbor’s territory. It was announced yesterday by the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, who justified his plan by the British decision to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing projectiles with depleted uranium.
During an interview on Russian state television, the Russian president recalled that his Belarusian counterpart, Aleksandr Lukashenko, has long been asking Russia to deploy tactical weapons on its territory. But he made it clear that Russia will not deliver this kind of weaponry to the Minsk regime, which will continue to be under Moscow’s control.
The Russian leader explained that on July 1 Russia will complete the construction of a tactical nuclear weapons depot on the territory of Belarus, at the gates of the European Union. The country ruled by Lukashenko with an iron fist since 1994 borders three EU countries, which are also NATO members: Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
He did not specify, however, when he will transfer the weapons to Belarus.
When we talk about “tactical” nuclear weapons, we mean those that can be used to make specific gains on the battlefield, not those that have the capacity to destroy cities.
The decision of Moscow and Minsk may further tense the situation surrounding the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Since the conflict began, senior Russian officials, including former President Dmitry Medvedev, and pro-power commentators have brandished the nuclear weapon.
Belarus has a border with Ukraine. In February 2022, when Putin began what he called a “special military operation” against Ukraine, Russian troops used the territory of Belarus to begin the incursion and try to reach with their troops and tanks key areas of the country, such as the capital Kyiv.
Although he has thus helped Moscow, Lukashenko insists that Belarus will not enter the conflict on Putin’s side, unless there is an attack against Belarus.
One of the reasons for the deal with Lukashenko, Putin said on the Rossiya 24 TV channel, is the UK’s decision to send depleted uranium projectiles to Ukraine, which, according to Putin, “is somehow related to nuclear technology”.
“Regarding our talks with Aleksandr Grigorevich Lukashenko, the trigger was the statement by the British Deputy Defense Minister that they will supply depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine. This is somehow related to nuclear technology”, explained the Russian leader.
“Of course, Russia has material to answer. We have, without exaggeration, hundreds of thousands of shells of this kind. At the moment, we will not use them”, declared Putin.
Putin also claims that by deploying nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, Russia is not violating any of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as its main adversary is also doing so.
“The United States has done it for decades. They have deployed their tactical nuclear weapons for a long time on the territory of their allied countries, the NATO countries, in six states. If my memory serves me correctly, they are Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Greece”, explained President Putin.
The conclusion of Putin and Lukashenko is that “we will do the same”, he continued. It will be the first time since the mid-1990s that Russia has placed this type of weapon outside its borders.
According to Putin, his partner is right when he says: “Listen, we are very close allies. Why do the Americans do this with their allies, deploy, train in their territory, by the way, with their crews, their pilots, to use this kind of weapons if necessary?”.
Putin added that on April 3, Moscow will begin training Belarusian aircrews to operate planes that are being retrofitted to carry nuclear weapons. “Ten planes are already ready for the use of this type of weaponry”, he specified.
When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, there were nuclear weapons in four of the fifteen new countries that were formed: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. A year later, its four governments agreed that the weapons would stay in Russia. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan finished transferring their arsenals in 1996.
Belarus joined the NPT in 1993 as a non-nuclear state. In August 2022, Minsk confirmed to the United Nations its status as a State free of nuclear weapons.
Last summer, Lukashenko asked Putin to help him retrofit his military’s planes so they could carry nuclear payloads, citing “training flights of US and NATO aircraft that are preparing to carry warheads and nuclear charges”.
For his part, Putin promised to provide Belarus with Iskander-M tactical missile systems, noting “which, as is known, can use ballistic and cruise missiles, both in their conventional and nuclear versions.”
This complex is now available to Russian partners. “We have already delivered to Belarus our well-known and very effective Iskander complex. From April 3 we will start training the crew, and on July 1 we will finish the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus,” Putin said.
In December, Russia and Belarus agreed to create a common defense space.
