Russia has taken Belarus as a “nuclear hostage”, Ukraine said on Sunday following President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a deployment of “tactical” nuclear weapons on the territory of its ally.
“The Kremlin has taken Belarus as a nuclear hostage,” Ukrainian Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov wrote on Twitter, adding that this decision is a “step towards the internal destabilization of the country”.
The announcement of the Russian president “maximizes the level of negative perception and public rejection of Russia and Mr. Putin in Belarusian society”, also suggests Mr. Danilov.
Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he had the Minsk agreement to deploy “tactical” nuclear weapons in Belarus, a country located at the gates of the European Union and led since 1994 by Alexander Lukashenko, his closest ally.
If Belarus does not take a direct part in the conflict in Ukraine, Moscow used its territory to lead its offensive on Kyiv last year or to carry out strikes, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
Russian officials have repeatedly issued thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine if the conflict escalates significantly.
Vladimir Putin motivated his decision on Saturday by the United Kingdom’s desire to send depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine, as recently mentioned by a British official.
Mr. Putin “admits that he is afraid of losing (the war) and that all he can do is scare,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said on Twitter on Sunday.
He also accused the Russian leader of “violating the nuclear non-proliferation treaty”.
Mr. Putin, during his announcement, had specified that this deployment in Belarus would be done “without contravening our international agreements on nuclear non-proliferation”.
