Global Village Today: Russian Tactical Nuclear Weapons Transferred to Belarus and Iranian President Raisi’s Tour of Latin America Under U.S. Sanctions

It is ‘Global Village Today’ that delivers major news from various countries around the world.

Host) What news do you have today?

Reporter) Yes. The transfer of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus has begun, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is on a tour of three Latin American countries that are under U.S. sanctions.

Host) Global Village Today, this is the first news. Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons have begun to be transferred to Belarus?

Reporter) Yes. Belarus has begun acquiring tactical nuclear weapons from Russia, said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. “We have missiles and bombs from Russia,” Lukashenko said in an interview with Russian state TV channel ‘Rosiya-1’ on the 13th.

Moderator) So, has Belarus already received all of its tactical nuclear weapons from Russia?

Reporter) That’s not it. President Lukashenko responded to the same question from the Rossiya-1 host, saying that he is receiving them little by little and sequentially, saying that he is not all of them. He argued that Russian nuclear weapons being deployed in Belarus are three times more powerful than the US atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Moderator) Isn’t the transfer time earlier than what Russian President Vladimir Putin recently talked about?

Reporter) That’s right. When President Putin met with President Lukashenko, who visited Moscow on the 9th, he said that the arms transfer will begin as soon as the weapons storage facility is completed on the 7th or 8th of next month. Prior to this, the two countries announced in March that they had agreed on plans to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Moderator) So, are you saying that all the work is done?

Correspondingly, President Lukashenko said that Belarus has numerous nuclear storage facilities built in the former Soviet Union, of which five or six have been restored. He added that more will be recovered in the future. President Lukashenko also said that once all tactical nuclear weapons are brought in, they will be distributed throughout Belarus.

Host) Is it very rare for Russian tactical nuclear weapons to be deployed in other countries?

Reporter) Yes. It is the first time in 27 years that Russian nuclear weapons have been deployed abroad. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia began to retrieve nuclear weapons deployed in former Soviet Union countries such as Belarus and Ukraine. Since completing this task in 1996, we have not deployed nuclear weapons to any other country.

Host) Why is Belarus trying to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons?

Reporter) Lukashenko has argued that it is because his country’s security is under threat. Belarus shares borders with three NATO countries: Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. In an interview on the 13th, President Lukashenko claimed, “Belarus has always been a target of attack,” and “they (the West) have always wanted to tear us apart since 2020.” He insisted that no one would try to fight a country with nuclear weapons.

Host) So, it’s a claim that it’s a kind of deterrence weapon.

Reporter) Yes. Lukashenko also said that the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus was at his own request, not at the request of President Putin. He emphasized that it was not just a request, but a ‘strong request’.

Moderator) By the way, doesn’t Belarus need Russian approval to use these tactical nuclear weapons?

Reporter) That’s right. Since it is a Russian nuclear weapon and cannot be used without Russian approval, it is pointed out that it will be difficult to use it immediately when Belarus thinks it is a crisis moment. But President Lukashenko dismissed the criticism, saying that a phone call would be enough. Then he said, “If there is a war, I will call President Putin right away, and he will answer the phone right away wherever he is.” Conversely, when President Putin calls, he always answers, and he emphasized that there is nothing wrong with coordinating the use of nuclear weapons.

Moderator) In the midst of this, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg visited Washington, USA?

Reporter) Yes. At the White House on the 13th, US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg discussed the situation in Ukraine and support issues. “We need to know that Russia’s brutal invasion is an attack not only on Ukraine, but on our core values, free peoples around the world,” Stoltenberg said. “If Putin wins this war, it will not only be a tragedy for Ukraine, it will make the world more dangerous, so Putin must never win this war,” he said.

Moderator) How did General Stoltenberg evaluate the recent war situation?

Reporter) Yes. Stoltenberg said the Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia was making progress. “It’s still early, but the more land Ukraine liberates, the stronger it will have at the negotiating table in the future,” he said. “At some point, Putin will realize that he will never win this war,” he added.

Host) Let’s also listen to President Biden’s story.

Reporter) Yes. President Biden also emphasized NATO’s continued support for Ukraine, saying that President Putin made a mistake. President Biden also emphasized that NATO’s solidarity was strengthened in the process of countering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying, “NATO allies are uniting now more than ever, and the two of us made a desperate effort for that.”

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (left) and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega attend a ceremony in Managua on the 13th.

Host) Global village today, the next news. Is the president of Iran on a tour of Central and South America?

Reporter) Yes. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is on a tour of three Latin American countries, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, from the 12th. President Raisi finished his first visit to Venezuela and arrived in Nicaragua, his second visit, on the 13th.

Host) Why did President Raishi visit these countries?

Reporter) This is according to the invitation of the countries concerned. In an interview with Iranian state-run IRNA news agency before departure, President Raishi said that cooperation between these countries and Iran has increased over the past two years in the fields of industry, medicine, agriculture, and science, and that cooperation through this visit is expected. said it would further promote President Raishi is accompanied by a delegation comprising ministers of health, culture, petroleum, economy and foreign affairs.

Moderator) By the way, unfortunately, all four countries are under US sanctions, right?

Reporter) That’s right. On the other hand, all four of these countries are also friendly to Russia, which is currently at war with Ukraine. In particular, the US government believes that Iran is not only supplying attack drones and drones to Russia, but also providing parts and equipment necessary for Russia to build a drone manufacturing plant. However, Iran has dismissed the allegations and insisted that the drones found over Ukraine were supplied before the war.

Host) Isn’t it quite a while since the Iranian president visited these countries?

Reporter) Yes. In the case of Cuba and Venezuela, the last visits by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani were in 2016. And Nicaragua has not been visited by an Iranian president since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2007.

Moderator) Then, is it the first time in 15 years that an Iranian president has visited Nicaragua?

Reporter) Yes. President Raisi held a joint press conference after meeting with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on the 13th. At this meeting, President Raisi condemned the United States and claimed, “The United States wants to paralyze us with threats and sanctions, but it is not able to do so.”

Host) Iran and Venezuela are also members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Reporter) That’s right. Iran and Venezuela are OPEC members now at the center of the global energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine. Venezuela, in particular, has the largest oil reserves in the world. When Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro visited Iran last year, the two countries agreed to cooperate in fields such as petroleum and petrochemicals over the next 20 years.

Moderator) How did the US government react to the Iranian president’s trip to Latin America?

Reporter) Yes. White House National Security Council (NSC) Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said on the 12th that he was concerned about Iran’s “destabilizing behavior.” “I can’t tell you what the agenda is, what President Raishi is doing and who he is meeting with,” Kirby said. But he said, “If you ask me if I’m concerned about Iran’s destabilizing moves, I’d say it’s natural.”

Moderator) Yes. I will listen until today, the global village.