Russia has started transferring nuclear weapons to Belarus, Lukashenko announces

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday (May 25th) that Russia had begun to transfer nuclear weapons to his country, concretizing the deployment announced in March by Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday, June 5, 2022 in St. Petersburg. © AFP

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The transfer of nuclear charges has begun, it has already begun " said Alexander Lukashenko, responding to a question from a Russian journalist in a video broadcast by the unofficial Telegram channel of the Belarusian presidency, Pul Pervogo. The president of Belarus, who was in Moscow on Thursday 25 May for a regional summit, was not however able to indicate whether the weapons in question were already in his country. He explained that Vladimir Putin had told him the day before that he had signed the decree allowing the transfer.

The Russian president announced on March 25 that Moscow would deploy "tactical" nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, a country located at the gates of the European Union, feeding the fear of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. The announcement then provoked criticism from the international community, the West in particular, especially since the Russian leader has since the beginning of his assault against his Ukrainian neighbor in February 2022 evoked the possibility of using atomic weapons.

« A new threat for the whole of Europe »

The Belarusian opponent in exile, Svetalana Tikhanovskaya, denounced a threat to the entire European continent. "This not only endangers the lives of Belarusians, but also creates a new threat for Ukraine, for all of Europe," she wrote on Twitter. "When it comes to tactical nuclear weapons, most are as powerful as the one that killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima," she added. So-called "tactical" nuclear weapons can cause immense damage, but their radius of destruction is more limited than that of "strategic" nuclear weapons.

In early April, Russia said it had begun training Belarusian military personnel in the use of these nuclear weapons. In addition, Vladimir Putin had indicated in the past that ten aircraft had already been equipped in Belarus for the use of such weapons and that a special warehouse would be completed by July 1.

Belarus is not directly engaged on the ground in Ukraine, but has lent its territory to the Russian military so that it can launch its assault in February 2022.

>> Also listen: Belarus, a perilous position?

(

With AFP)

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Read on on the same topics:

• Russia
• Belarus
• Defense
• Nuclear
• Alexandre Loukachenko
• Vladimir Poutine