Belarusian President claims that Russia has started moving nuclear warheads into Belarus. Earlier on Thursday, Russia had signed a deal with Belarus to move its tactical nuclear missiles in Belarusian territory.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed that Russia was beginning to move its nuclear warheads into Belarusian territory on Thursday. This comes after Russia and Belarus signed a treaty on Thursday to allow Russian tactical missiles into Belarus to counter the rising tension from the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed his intentions to move these weapons to Belarus in March itself. Immediately after the announcement in March, Putin had attracted severe condemnation from Western countries.
Repositioning of Kremlin’s Nuclear Posture
This is the first time that Russia is deploying nuclear weapons on foreign soil since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The Kremlin backed this decision by attributing it to the provocation by Western countries supporting Ukraine in the war. This transfer will augment the alignment of Russian and Belarusian armies, as Moscow aims to solidify its alliance with Minsk. Russia will continue to control the tactical nuclear missiles, while Belarusian troops will help with its movement and deployment.
Belarusian Preparation for the Warheads
The nuclear warheads that Russia is moving to Belarus can be launched either on Iskander-M missiles or from Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircrafts. Notably, Belarus has both of these in their military arsenal, enabling Russia to launch the warheads easily. At the Eurasian Economic Forum in Moscow, President Lukashenko iterated how they had to “prepare storage facilities” for the warheads to be accommodated.
Now that the preparations are complete, the movement of nuclear munitions could be facilitated, said President Lukashenko. Reportedly, Belarusian troops had also began training to operate nuclear Russian missile systems in April itself, one month after President Putin announced his plans about the warheads.
While President Lukashenko welcomes the tactical nuclear weapons, other leaders within Belarus are sceptical of this move. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, leader of opposition in Belarus, criticised the move, cautioning against its adverse effects. She opined that the move would endanger Belarusian lives while creating newer threats against not just Ukraine but also rest of Europe. In her view, inviting Russian nuclear weapons will “make Belarusians hostages to Russian imperial ambitions” as quoted by a recent media source.
Strategic Importance of This Move
The strategic importance of moving Russian tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus exceed the immediate effect of cementing an alliance when the rest of the world is aligning against Russia. Belarus shares borders with three NATO nations, namely Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland. Russian nuclear warheads in Belarus threaten nuclear strikes on any or all of these NATO members if the war escalates.
This move can thus act as a deterrent in favour of Russia. Belarus also possesses missiles that could carry Russian nuclear warheads to multiple national capitals, holding the potential to launch counterattacks on several nations if the situation escalates. Since these are tactical nuclear weapons, they are used for closer target and have a smaller yield.
Russia has a huge advantage in terms of number of nuclear weapons it harbours against that of the United States. As compared to 5,800 nuclear warheads under US President Biden’s control, Russian President Vladimir Putin commands 6,375 nuclear warheads, outnumbering US in this regard. With this strategic move by President Putin, the threat of a nuclear war has been intensified. It remains to be seen how Ukraine and the West respond to this.
