Belarus agrees to host Putin’s nukes
BELARUS yesterday signed a deal allowing Russian nuclear weapons to be deployed on its territory.
The move formalised a plan agreed earlier by Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin had announced in March that his country planned to deploy tactical, comparatively short-range and small-yield nuclear weapons in Belarus.
The deal comes as Russia braces itself for Ukraine’s much-anticipated counter-offensive on the battlefield.
Hostility
Both Russian and Belarusian officials said the step was driven by continuing hostility from the West.
Belarusian defence minister Viktor Khrenin addressed the issue during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in Minsk.
He said: “Deployment of non-strategic nuclear weapons is an effective response to the aggressive policy of countries unfriendly to us.” Shoigu added: “In the context of an extremely sharp escalation of threats on the western borders of Russia and Belarus, a decision was made to take counter-measures in the military nuclear sphere.”
A spokesman for Belarus’s Ministry of Defence said that the agreement refers to a “special storage facility on the territory of the Republic of Belarus”.
No detail was announced over when the weapons would be deployed.
But Putin previously said the construction of storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus would be completed by July 1. Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said: “We must do everything to prevent Putin’s plan to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, as this will ensure Russia’s control over Belarus for years to come.
“This will further jeopardise the security of Ukraine and all of Europe.”
Russia and Belarus have an alliance agreement under which the Kremlin subsidises the Belarusian economy through loans and discounted oil and gas.