2023-05-25 15:58:18
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday that Russia had begun transferring nuclear weapons to his country, fulfilling the deployment announced in March by Vladimir Putin.
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Russia for its part did not immediately comment.
“The transfer of nuclear charges has started, it has already started,” Lukashenko said, responding to a question from a Russian journalist in a video broadcast by the unofficial Belarusian presidential Telegram channel, Pul Pervogo.
Mr Lukashenko, who was in Moscow on Thursday for a regional summit, was unable to say whether the weapons in question were already in his country.
“Maybe I’m going back and I’ll see,” said the Belarusian leader and main Russian ally.
Mr. Lukashenko explained that Mr. Putin had told him the day before that he had signed the decree allowing the transfer.
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The Russian president announced on March 25 that Moscow was going to deploy “tactical” nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, a country located at the gates of the European Union, fueling fears of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.
The announcement had sparked criticism from the international community, Westerners in particular, especially since the Russian leader has since the start of his assault on his Ukrainian neighbor in February 2022 raised the possibility of recourse to atomic weapons. .
Opponent in exile Svetalana Tikhanovskaya denounced Thursday a threat to the entire European continent.
“It does not just endanger the lives of Belarusians, but also creates a new threat for Ukraine, for all of Europe”, wrote on Twitter Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa.
“When it comes to tactical nukes, most are as powerful as the one that killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima,” she added.
So-called “tactical” nuclear weapons can cause immense damage, but their radius of destruction is more limited than that of “strategic” nuclear weapons.
In early April, Russia said it had started training the Belarusian military in the use of “tactical” nuclear weapons.
In addition, Mr. Putin has indicated in the past that ten aircraft have already been equipped in Belarus for the use of such weapons and that a special warehouse will be completed by July 1.
Belarus is not directly engaged on the ground in Ukraine, but has loaned its territory to the Russian army so that it can launch its assault in February 2022.
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