Russia announced the arrival of the first nuclear weapons in Belarus

First modification: 06/16/2023 – 22:36

A meeting full of announcements with a threatening tone. This Friday, during the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, the main economic event in Russia – a kind of counterpart to the Davos Forum – the president, Vladimir Putin, launched several messages in reference to his war activities in Ukraine.

The most famous statement of the Russian leader was the confirmation of the arrival of the first tactical weapons in Belarus: “This is a deterrence measure,” Putin stressed, adding that the operation will end by the end of the year “at the latest.” Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus has raised concerns both regionally and internationally. It is not the first time that the Kremlin has issued a warning of this type.

The Russian president has made it clear that the deployment of these weapons is a deterrent measure, intended to “protect Russian territorial integrity and sovereignty. However, the presence of tactical nuclear weapons in a neighboring country raises questions, after Putin stressed that their use is “theoretically possible”, but that “there is no need” to resort to them, as long as the above is respected. mentioned.

Moscow began its shipment of nuclear weapons to Belarus

The integration of defense policy between Moscow and Minsk in recent years is a matter of concern for the West. The trigger for this decision, according to the Kremlin, was the publication in an American media that the United Kingdom supplies depleted uranium to Ukraine, approved by the United States. A fact that was described by Minsk as “an aggressive policy” of the West. Although Moscow has not specified the type of nuclear weapons, Alexander Lukashenko pointed out that the “nuclear warheads” are “three times more powerful than the atomic bombs” that the United States dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The fact that Russia claims to have a larger arsenal of nuclear weapons than Western countries and refuses to discuss reducing its arsenal creates an imbalance of power and may increase tensions in international arms control negotiations.

However, shortly after the Russian’s controversial statements, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, spoke out to point out that they will continue to carefully monitor the situation, but that they “have no reason” to adjust US nuclear policy: “We see no indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon”, Blinken calmed down, also criticizing the Belarusian president for making “irresponsible and provocative” decisions to cede control of the country’s sovereignty against his own people.

“30% of shipments of heavy weapons and vehicles to Ukraine have been destroyed”: Putin

On the other hand, Putin also made statements regarding the war in Ukraine, when the Ukrainian counteroffensive is underway and Kiev once again announced progress in the most disputed areas such as Bakhmut and other eastern regions, where Ukrainian troops have recovered a hundred square kilometers that were under the control of Russian forces.

During the forum, Putin stated that Ukraine has no chance of a counteroffensive against Russian troops. “As for (the attacks on) these border territories, well, it is an attempt to distract us… to force us to transfer some units deployed in other parts of the front line,” the Russian said.

His reading contrasts with the information offered by Kiev, pointing out that “several tanks have been destroyed”, including those provided by the West: the Leopard tanks: “30% of shipments of heavy weapons and vehicles to Ukraine have been destroyed” by Kremlin troops, Putin said. “The F16s will burn too, no doubt,” he threatened, about the possible arrival of F-16 fighter jets that NATO countries could send to Ukraine to help militarily fight the Russian invasion.

Putin’s statements about Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory as an attempt to distract Russia raise questions about stability in the region and the possibility of military escalation. “There is a serious danger that NATO will be drawn further into this armed conflict,” Putin said. The warning about the danger of NATO getting further involved in the conflict reflects Moscow’s concerns about a greater NATO presence in its area of ​​influence.

Precisely this Friday, the Alliance Defense Ministers reported new regional plans to reinforce deterrence and allied defenses with the activation of more than 300,000 troops. “For the first time since the Cold War, we are fully connecting our collective defense planning with our forces, capabilities, and command and control planning,” said Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General.

During the day of the economic meeting, the Russian president pointed to the tensions in his relationship with the United States. “We have practically no contacts and it was not us who refused them. If there was a desire to have some kind of dialogue with us, they simply transferred this dialogue to the sphere of arms supply,” he said during the second St. Petersburg Forum in a row.

The largest economic meeting in Russia, which pretends to be a kind of “Russian Davos” since it welcomes more than 17,000 people, most of them from other countries, was not attended by many Western countries, except for Hungary and some Austrian officials. .

With Reuters and EFE