For the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian nuclear weapons are outside Russia’s borders. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed on Wednesday that his country has stored the first tactical nuclear weapons.
Russia and its ally Belarus already signed an agreement in March on the storage of tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. First, a warehouse had to be built in Belarus.
According to Lukashenko, some of the weapons are more powerful than the atomic bombs the United States dropped on Japan in 1945. Russia justifies the action by pointing out that the US has stationed nuclear weapons abroad for decades.
Control of nuclear weapons remains in Russian hands. President Vladimir Putin stressed that Belarus has no say in the use of the weapons. According to experts, the chance that Russia will actually deploy nuclear weapons in Ukraine is still very small.
In addition to Russia, Belarus also borders Ukraine and NATO member states Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. NATO previously responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by sending more troops to the eastern member states.
2023-06-14 09:54:00
#Russia #nuclear #weapons #borders #time #Cold #War #War #Ukraine
