According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia will finish construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, escalating tensions in war-torn Ukraine and its Western allies.
Putin stated in a Saturday interview on TV channel Rossiya-24 that Russia has already handed over the Iskander complex, which can store nuclear weapons, to Belarus.
According to Putin, his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko has long discussed the idea of putting Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which have not been present since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
“We agreed with Lukashenko that we would install tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus without breaking the nonproliferation regime,” Putin was reported as saying by the Russian news agency TASS.
The US has long stationed such weapons in a number of nations, therefore Belarus’ request is not exceptional, according to Putin.
According to TASS, Putin later stated that Russia had sent 10 planes to Belarus, all of which were capable of carrying tactical nuclear bombs.
“Ten aircraft are equipped with this type of armament. We have previously sent our well-known, very powerful Iskander complex to Belarus; it may also serve as a carrier [of tactical nuclear weapons] “He stated.
Moscow will begin training crews in early April, according to Putin, who also stated that Russia will finish the construction of a tactical nuclear weapons storage facility in Belarus by July 1 and that management of the weapons will not be passed to Minsk.
Since Russia launched its war in neighboring Ukraine 13 months ago, Western politicians and commentators have expressed fear that Moscow may escalate the fight to a nuclear level, citing statements by the Russian side that the West interprets as implying that all options are on the table.