LAST UPDATE | 26 Mar 2023
THE NATO ALLIANCE has condemned Russia’s announcement that it would deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus as “dangerous and irresponsible”.
But spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the western allies had not yet “seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture that would lead us to adjust our own”.
Ukraine earlier called for an emergency meeting of the United Nation’s Security Council over Russia’s move.
The EU’s foreign policy chief has said that Brussels is ready to impose new sanctions on Belarus if Minsk were to host Russian nuclear weapons.
“Belarus hosting Russian nuclear weapons would mean an irresponsible escalation and threat to European security. Belarus can still stop it, it is their choice. The EU stands ready to respond with further sanctions,” Josep Borrell tweeted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Saturday his country would station tactical nuclear arms in Belarus.
#Belarus hosting Russian nuclear weapons would mean an irresponsible escalation & threat to European security. Belarus can still stop it, it is their choice.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) March 26, 2023
The EU stands ready to respond with further sanctions.
Kyiv said said Russia is holding Minsk as a “nuclear hostage” after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to ally Belarus.
“Ukraine expects effective actions to counteract the Kremlin’s nuclear blackmail from the United Kingdom, China, the United States and France… We demand that an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council be immediately convened for this purpose,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said.
The secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, wrote on Twitter that “the Kremlin took Belarus as a nuclear hostage”.
He added that the move was “a step towards the internal destabilization of the country”.
Yesterday, Putin said he and strongman Alexander Lukashenko “agreed” Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
He also said he would deploy depleted uranium ammunition if Kyiv received such munitions from the West following a British suggestion that it could supply Ukraine.
“There is nothing unusual here either: the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long placed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies,” Putin said.
Putin said he spoke to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and said “we agreed that we to do the same.”
Lukashenko, who has been in power in Belarus for almost 30 years, is a key Putin ally.
Back in February 2022, Minsk allowed the Kremlin to launch its invasion of Ukraine from his country’s territory.
Fears have since risen that Belarus may join its ally’s offensive, but Lukashenko said he would do so “only if attacked”.
For Danilov, Putin’s announcement “maximizes the level of negative perception and public rejection of Russia and Putin in Belarusian society”.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has warned nuclear threats were creating a dangerous sense of uncertainty around their possible use.
The longer Russia’s operation in Ukraine grinds on, the greater the nuclear strike risk, ICAN warned last month ahead of the offensive’s first anniversary.
Putin announced last month that Moscow would suspend its participation in New START, the last remaining arms control treaty between the world’s two main nuclear powers Russia and the United States.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg slammed Russia for suspending the nuclear weapons limitation treaty with the US, saying it marked the end of Europe’s post-Cold War arms control architecture.
The announcement came after Moscow last August suspended US inspections of its military sites under New START.
Putin previously said at a Kremlin meeting that “such a threat is rising” on the use of nuclear weapons but has been evasive on Russia’s policy.
US officials have voiced fears that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it feels routed on the battlefield and could plant a fictitious story to justify its actions.
Russia has already spoken of supposed Ukrainian attempts to detonate a “dirty bomb,” drawing strong denials from Ukraine and a sharp rebuke from the United States, which had rare direct communication with Moscow to warn against nuclear use.
Neither the United States nor Russia – by far the largest nuclear weapons powers – officially has a policy of no first use of the ultra-destructive arms.
A recent US posture review by President Joe Biden concluded only that nuclear weapons should only be used in “extreme circumstances.”
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