Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Friday that Russia has already begun transferring nuclear weapons to Belarus, as he had announced in March.
“The first nuclear weapons have been transferred to Belarusian territory. They are only the first, but before the end of the summer we will complete the process,” Putin told an economic forum in St. Petersburg, broadcast live on Russian television.
Putin recalled that the “delivery of tactical nuclear weapons” to Belarus follows an agreement announced in March with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who lent his country’s territory to Russia to attack Ukraine and stoke fears of an escalation of the conflict. .
So-called “tactical” nuclear weapons can cause immense damage, but their radius of destruction is more limited than that of “strategic” nuclear weapons. The United States has already reacted to Putin’s announcement.
“We have no reason to adjust our nuclear posture. We see no evidence that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reacted.
The American saw Putin’s statement as “ironic”, since he himself justified the invasion of Ukraine by saying it was to prevent Kiev from obtaining such weapons and criticized Belarusian President Lukashenko for accepting weapons from Moscow.
“This is just another example of how Lukashenko makes irresponsible and provocative decisions to cede control of Belarus’s sovereignty against the will of the people,” he added.
Source: TSF
