It was at the end of March that Vladimir Putin revealed that Russia had agreed with Belarus to place tactical nuclear weapons in the neighboring country. On Thursday morning, the framework for the deployment of the countries' defense ministers was signed, and later the Belarusian president stated that the process was underway.
But in practice, it does not lead to a greater nuclear threat to the West because there are already nuclear weapons in the Kaliningrad area and in other areas nearby, according to Carl Bildt. He explains that it is about mobile robot systems that have been around for a long time and can be easily moved if necessary.
"The risk of escalation is not affected by where the nuclear weapons are located in peacetime," he said.
"Marking"
According to Bildt, the reason for the nuclear transfer is that Russia wants to intimidate, but he does not believe it will succeed.
"And maybe they do it to make Lukashenko feel a little more important than he actually is.
However, Bildt emphasizes that Russia is very careful with the control of its nuclear weapons.
"It's not something they throw out at random or let other than very special units handle.