Ukraine accuses Russia of taking Belarus 'hostage'

Europe 1 with AFP 13:18 p.m., March 26, 2023

THE ESSENTIALS

Ukraine on Sunday accused Russia of "hostage" Belarus after Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow will deploy "tactical" nuclear missiles on the territory of its ally, on the doorstep of the European Union. Russian officials have stepped up thinly veiled threats over the past year to use nuclear weapons if the conflict with Kiev escalates significantly. Belarus borders Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania.

The main information:

• Ukraine on Sunday accused Russia of "taking Belarus hostage"
• Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow will deploy "tactical" nuclear missiles on Belarusian territory

"The Kremlin has taken Belarus as a nuclear hostage," Ukrainian Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov wrote on Twitter, adding that Putin's decision is a "step towards the internal destabilization of the country." Moscow's announcement "maximizes the level of negative perception and public rejection of Russia and Vladimir Putin in Belarusian society," Danilov said. Westerners had not yet reacted Sunday to Vladimir Putin's plans.

On Saturday, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would deploy "tactical" nuclear weapons in Belarus and that ten aircraft had already been equipped to be ready to use such weapons. "There's nothing unusual here: the U.S. has been doing this for decades. They have long deployed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies," Putin said in an interview on Russian television.

"We have agreed to do the same," he added, saying he planned to "train the crews" from April 3 and "complete the construction of a special warehouse for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus" on July 1.

Uranium shells

Vladimir Putin "admits that he is afraid of losing (the war) and that all he can do is to scare," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said on Twitter on Sunday. He also accused the Russian leader of "violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty." Vladimir Putin, at the time of his announcement, said that this deployment in Belarus would be done "without contravening our international agreements on nuclear non-proliferation".

While Belarus is not directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, Moscow used its territory to conduct its offensive on Kiev last year or to carry out strikes, according to Ukrainian authorities. Vladimir Putin motivated his decision on Saturday by the desire of the United Kingdom to send depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine, as mentioned recently by a British official. Vladimir Putin has threatened to also use this type of shell, used to pierce armor, if Kiev were to receive them.

He called this type of shell one of the "most dangerous" and "generates so-called radiation dust". During recent negotiations in Moscow between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, the two leaders had stated in a joint statement that a nuclear war "must never be started" because "there can be no winners".

Several Russian officials, including former President Dmitry Medvedev, have threatened Ukraine and the West with nuclear weapons since the beginning of the Russian offensive launched on February 24, 2022. Russia also last month suspended the important New START nuclear disarmament treaty signed with the United States, although it promised to respect the limitation of its nuclear arsenal until the effective end of this agreement on February 5, 2026.

Russia's nuclear doctrine does not provide for Russia's preemptive use of nuclear weapons, but only in response to an attack on Russia or its allies, or in the event of a "threat to the very existence of the state."