Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced that his nation had already obtained some tactical nuclear weapons from Russia and issued a warning that he wouldn’t hesitate to command their use if Belarus came under attack.
Earlier pronouncements by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who claimed that Russian nuclear weapons would be sent to Belarus next month and emphasized that they would remain under Moscow’s exclusive control, were contradicted by Lukashenko’s brazen remarks.
Putin made the announcement about the deployment of short-range nuclear missiles to Belarus, a neighbor and ally of Moscow, earlier this year, and it was widely interpreted as a threat to the West as it increased military backing for Ukraine.
Putin stated that the facilities for the weapons would be finished by July 7–8, and they would be deployed to Belarusian territory as soon as possible after that, during his meeting with Lukashenko on Friday.
The deployment of Russian nuclear weapons is “ready,” according to Lukashenko, who added that “it could take just a few days for us to get what we had asked for and even a little more.”
Later, when asked if Belarus had actually received some of the weaponry by a host on Russian state television, Lukashenko coyly said, “Not all of them, little by little.”
He said that the Russian nuclear weapons being sent to Belarus are three times more potent than the American atomic bombs that were detonated on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. “We have the missiles and bombs from Russia,” he stated.
God forbid I had to decide to use those weapons today, but if we confront an aggression, there would be no hesitation, said President Lukashenko in remarks made earlier on Tuesday and made public by his administration.
Later on Tuesday, he underlined that he would speak with Putin before utilizing any of the weapons in remarks carried by Russian official TV.
He said, “Listen, do you think I’ll look around if a war breaks out?” Lukashenko remarked of Putin, “I pick up the phone, and wherever he is, he picks it up. “If he calls, I answer it whenever. Coordination of a strike is not a difficulty at all.
Officials from Russia did not immediately respond to Lukashenko’s comments.
It was Lukashenko who pushed Putin to send Russian nuclear weapons to Belarus, he repeated. He said that the action was required to prevent a prospective attack.
No one, according to Lukashenko, “would be willing to fight a country that has those weapons.” “Those are deterrent weapons.”
The goal of tactical nuclear weapons is to eliminate enemy forces and equipment on the battlefield. Compared to nuclear warheads mounted on intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of destroying entire cities, they have a far shorter range and a lower yield.
According to Lukashenko, Belarus didn’t require the stationing of Russian strategic nuclear weapons on its soil. Am I prepared to battle America? No, he replied.
However, he said that Belarus was also preparing its infrastructure for intercontinental nuclear-tipped missiles, just in case.
When they were all a part of the Soviet Union, Belarus had a sizable portion of the Soviet nuclear arsenals, along with Kazakhstan and Ukraine. After the Soviet Union’s demise in 1991, these weapons were transferred to Russia as part of a U.S.-sponsored agreement.
How many tactical nuclear weapons would be supplied to Belarus was not disclosed by Russia. Russian tactical nuclear weapons are believed to number over 2,000, and they comprise bombs that may be carried by planes, warheads for short-range missiles, and artillery rounds.
On February 24, 2022, Russia sent troops into Ukraine from Belarus’ territory and has continued to maintain forces and weaponry there. According to Lukashenko, Belarus would increase the amount of unguided missiles it produces for various rocket launchers.
After an election in 2020 that retained him in office but was widely perceived at home and internationally as being rigged, Lukashenko, who has been in power for 29 years, has relied on Russian political and economic backing to endure months of protests, mass arrests, and Western sanctions.
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