Russian President announces plan to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus

President of Russia Vladimir Putin announced yesterday that Russia will install tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Mr. Putin said that the action would not violate nuclear non-proliferation commitments.

He said Russia has ten aircraft stationed in Belarus that are capable of transporting tactical nuclear weapons. He also mentioned that Russia has already given Belarus a number of Iskander tactical missile systems that can launch nuclear weapons.

Mr. Putin stressed that Russia would not be ceding authority to Belarus and compared his plans to the United States stationing its weapons in Europe. He claimed that the United States has already stationed nuclear weapons on the territory of European allies. He added that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has long raised the issue of stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which borders Poland.

Russian President also issued a warning to NATO over its military assistance for Ukraine.

This will be the first time since the middle of the 1990s that Russia bases such weapons outside of its borders. The transfer would increase Russia’s capacity for nuclear strikes along the eastern frontier of NATO.