President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko visited the military-industrial complex in the Minsk region on Tuesday Photo: PRESS SERVICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS/REUTERS
Belarus began to receive tactical nuclear weapons from Russia, including three times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945.
This is believed to be the first time that Moscow has withdrawn such weapons — shorter-range and less powerful nuclear weapons that could potentially be used on the battlefield – outside of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“We have missiles and bombs that we received from Russia,” the president said Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in an interview with the Russian state TV channel Rossiya-1.
“Bombs are three times more powerful. than they [landed] on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” he said, speaking on the road in a forest clearing with military equipment parked nearby and what looked like a military warehouse in the background.
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia in said on Friday that Moscow, which will retain control over tactical nuclear weapons, will start deploying them in Belarus after special storage facilities for them are ready.
Alexander Lukashenko is considered a close ally of Vladimir Putin. Photo: SPUTNIK/REUTERS
In March, the Russian leader announced that he had agreed to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, pointing to the US deployment of similar weapons in a number of European countries for many decades.
The US criticized Putin's decision , but stated that they did not intend to change their position on strategic nuclear weapons and did not see any signs that Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons.
However, the Russian move is a foregone conclusion. it is being closely watched by the United States and its allies, as well as by China, which has repeatedly warned against the use of nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.
Mr Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, told Russian state television that his country has numerous nuclear storage facilities left over from Soviet times, and he has rebuilt some of them.
He downplayed the idea that Russia's control of the weapons was an obstacle to their rapid use, if he felt such a move was necessary, stating that he and Putin can call each other back “at any moment.”
Mr. Lukashenko, who allowed his country to be used by Russian forces attacking Ukraine, says the deployment of nuclear forces will serve as a deterrent against potential aggressors.
Speaking on Wednesday, he said his country would go into conflict in Ukraine if it was attacked, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
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