TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russia and Belarus signed a deal on Thursday formalizing the process for deploying Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. Control of the weapons will stay with Moscow.
The transfer formalized the deal agreed on earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Putin beforehand introduced in March that his nation deliberate to deploy tactical, comparatively short-range and small-yield nuclear weapons in Belarus. The inking of the deal comes as Russia braces for Ukraine’s much-anticipated counteroffensive.
Both Russian and Belarusian officers framed the step as pushed by hostility from the West.
“Deployment of nonstrategic nuclear weapons is an effective response to the aggressive policy of countries unfriendly to us,” Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin mentioned in Minsk throughout a gathering along with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu.
“In the context of an extremely sharp escalation of threats on the western borders of Russia and Belarus, a decision was made to take countermeasures in the military-nuclear sphere,” Shoigu added.
Belarus’s Ministry of Defense mentioned the settlement refers to a “special storage facility on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.”
No element was introduced concerning when the weapons can be deployed in Belarus, however Putin beforehand mentioned that the development of storage services for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus can be accomplished by July 1.
Exiled Belarusian opposition chief Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya condemned the transfer.
“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,” Tsikhanouskaya advised The Associated Press. “This will further jeopardize the security of Ukraine and all of Europe.”
Independent Belarusian army analyst Aliaksandr Alesin mentioned about two-thirds of Russia’s arsenal of medium-range nuclear-tipped missiles have been held in Belarus in the course of the Cold War, including that there are dozens of Soviet-era storage services that would nonetheless be used to retailer such weapons.
Soviet nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan have been moved to Russia in a U.S.-brokered deal after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
“Documents in Minsk on the return of nuclear weapons were defiantly signed just at the moment when Ukraine declared a counteroffensive and Western countries are handing over weapons to Kyiv,” Alesin advised the AP.
“This Belarusian nuclear balcony should spoil the mood for politicians in the West, since nuclear missiles are capable of covering Ukraine, all of Poland, the Baltic states and parts of Germany.”
Khrenin additionally introduced plans to “build up the combat potential of the regional grouping of Russia and Belarusian troops,” together with the switch to Minsk of the Iskander-M missile system, able to carrying a nuclear cost, and the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system.
Russia and Belarus have an alliance settlement underneath which the Kremlin subsidizes the Belarusian economic system, by way of loans and discounted Russian oil and gasoline. Russia used Belarusian territory as a staging floor for invading neighboring Ukraine and has maintained a contingent of troops and weapons there.
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