Russia announced that the Belarusian Air Force completed training to use tactical nuclear weapons on Friday, as part of its plan to station them in ally Belarus as they wage a war in neighboring Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video in which a Belarusian pilot claims that training in Russia has given Belarusian Air Force Su-25 fighter-bomber crews the necessary knowledge to use such weapons.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that Moscow planned to deploy some of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, in yet another attempt to forego the nuclear threat to discourage the West from supporting Ukraine.
Russia has an alliance agreement with Belarus that provides for close political, economic and military relations.
Russian forces used Belarusian territory to invade Ukraine from the north in February last year and have maintained a presence in Belarus ever since.
The deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus will bring them closer to potential targets in Ukraine and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) member states in Eastern and Central Europe.
Belarus shares a 1,250 kilometer border with NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
This type of weapon is intended to destroy enemy forces on the battlefield; they have a relatively short range and much less power than warheads mounted on long-range strategic missiles that can flatten entire cities.
Putin indicated that construction of infrastructure to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus would be completed by July 1.
Moscow has also helped modernize Belarusian combat aviation to adapt it to the carriage of nuclear weapons and has supplied Minsk Iskander short-range missiles, which can be fitted with nuclear warheads.
The Kremlin leader also stressed that Russia retains control over all nuclear weapons sent to Belarus, just as the United States maintains control over its tactical nuclear weapons stationed on the territory of its NATO allies.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has suggested that some of Russia’s strategic nuclear weapons could also be deployed in Belarus, along with some of Moscow’s tactical nuclear arsenal.
Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin again referred to that hypothesis today, saying “it could be the next step” if the West continues what he described as “its hostile course of action”.
“We will only respond to violence with violence. Otherwise, in the West, they won’t understand,” Khrenin declared, adding, “We are already preparing the structures we have.”
Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine had Soviet nuclear weapons on their territory, but returned them to Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14.6 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.1 million to European countries -, according to the latest data from the UN. which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
At the moment, at least 18 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million people need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by Putin with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions to Russia.
The UN presented as confirmed since the start of the war, which today has entered its 415th day, 8,490 civilians killed and 14,244 wounded, underlining that these numbers are far below the real ones.
Source: DN
