Belarus starts taking delivery of Russian nukes

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that Russian tactical nuclear weapons have begun to arrive in his country. These weapons are three times more damaging than the atomic bombs the US detonated on Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow has not deployed such warheads outside of Russia. These are nuclear weapons with a shorter range and lower strength that may be used in combat.

Lukashenko said in an interview with Rossiya-1, a Russian state TV station, “We have missiles and bombs that we have received from Russia.” This was published on the Telegram channel of the Belarusian Belta state news agency, reports Reuters.

“The bombs are three times more powerful than those (dropped on) Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” he said, speaking on a road in a forest clearing with military vehicles parked nearby and some kind of military storage facility visible in the background.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia, which will retain control of the tactical nuclear weapons, would start deploying them in Belarus after special storage facilities to house them were made ready.

The Russian leader announced in March he had agreed to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, pointing to the US deployment of such weapons in a host of European countries over many decades.

The United States has criticised Putin’s decision but has said it has no intention of altering its stance on strategic nuclear weapons and has not seen any signs that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon.

The Russian step is nonetheless being watched closely by the United States and its allies as well as by China, which has repeatedly cautioned against the use of nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visits a military-industrial complex facility in the Minsk Region

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speaks to journalists during his visit to a military-industrial complex facility in the Minsk Region of Belarus on Tuesday via the Press Service of the President of the Republic of Belarus.

Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, told Russian state TV in the interview, which was released late on Tuesday, that his country had numerous nuclear storage facilities left over from the Soviet era and had restored five or six of them.

He played down the idea that Russian control of the weapons impeded using them quickly if he felt such a move was necessary, saying he and Putin could pick up the phone to each other “at any moment”.

Earlier on Tuesday, he had said separately that the Russian tactical nuclear weapons would be physically deployed on the territory of Belarus “in several days” and that he had the facilities to host longer-range missiles too if ever needed.

Lukashenko, who has allowed his country to be used by Russian forces attacking Ukraine as part of what Moscow calls its “special military operation”, says the nuclear deployment will act as a deterrent against potential aggressors.

Belarus borders three NATO member countries: Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.

The 68-year-old former Soviet collective farm boss, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, making him Europe’s longest-serving leader, said he didn’t simply ask Putin for the weapons, but “demanded” them.