Russia sending nuclear arms to Belarus in Ukraine fight
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russia had begun moving nuclear weapons to its territory, which borders the European Union, ratcheting up tensions with the West over the Ukraine conflict.
On the diplomatic front, Russia's foreign ministry announced a visit to Moscow by China's special envoy for Ukraine, Li Hui — Beijing's latest effort to broker an end to the fighting.
Li's visit to the Russian capital, where he is expected to meet foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday, comes after he met with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
"The transfer of nuclear munitions has begun," Lukashenko told reporters during a visit to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin.
In Washington, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-pierre called Russia's move "yet another example of making irresponsible and provocative choices."
She added, however, that "we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture... nor any indication that Russia is prepared to use nuclear weapons from Belarus."
There was no immediate confirmation by Russia of the nuclear weapon transfer.
Lukashenko has allowed his territory, which borders Ukraine as well as EU and NATO members Poland and Lithuania, to serve as a staging ground for Russia's Ukraine offensive.
In March, Putin said he would station "tactical" nuclear weapons — in effect short-range atomic missiles — in Belarus, drawing condemnation from the West.
US bombers intercepted
Adding to the global worries, Russia said Thursday that it had sent fighter jets to stop two US bomber planes from "violating the state border" over the Baltic Sea, the second such incident this week.
The Russian defense ministry said it had scrambled Su-27 and Su-35 fighter jets, saying it identified "the air targets as two US Air Force B-1B strategic bombers."
After the maneuver, the Russian fighters "returned safely to their air base," it said.
In Japan, Tokyo's military also said it deployed fighter jets against Russian planes travelling along parts of its coastline.
SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — Nearly 9,000 sea lions, penguins, otters and small cetaceans have died in an avian flu outbreak battering Chile's north coast, the South American country's fisheries service said Thursday. Since the beginning of 2023, more than 7,600 sea lions, 1,186 Humboldt penguins — an endangered species that breeds only in Chile and Peru — and several otters, porpoises and dolphins have been found dead along the coast, the Sernapesca service said in a statement. The disease was present in 12 of Chile's 16 regions, it added, and announced the activation of "surveillance protocols" along the coast, including burying affected animals in a bid to prevent further virus spread. In March, Chile signaled its first case of human infection, in a man aged 53. Elsewhere in South America, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Peru — with hundreds of sea lion deaths — have also reported cases.