Belarus conducts checks on tactical nuclear weapons with Russia
Belarus said Tuesday it started checks on its army’s readiness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on orders of President Alexander Lukashenko. The announcement comes a day after Russia’s Defense Ministry said it plans to hold drills involving tactical nuclear weapons. Belarus does not have nuclear weapons, but it agreed to host Russian tactical warheads on its territory last year amid Russia’s escalating war with Ukraine. "Several dozen" Russian tactical nuclear weapons were deployed in Belarus under an agreement last year, Lukashenko said in April. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last June that Moscow had positioned bombs in Belarus as a warning to the West. Lukashenko ordered a surprise inspection of forces in charge of such weapons. During the checks, ‘the entire range of activities from planning, preparation and use of strikes with tactical nuclear weapons will be checked,’ Belarusian Defense Minister Defense Viktor Khrenin said. Tactical nuclear weapons are designed for use against troops on battlefields. They are less powerful than nuclear warheads fitted to long-range ballistic missiles, which are intended to obliterate entire cities. By late 2022, Russia had already deployed Iskander missiles, which are nuclear capable, to Belarus. Russia said Monday it would practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in a military exercise after Moscow said there were threats from Britain, France and the United States. Kyiv is used to these drills as ‘nuclear blackmail is a constant practice of Putin’s regime,’ a Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson said. Some information for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse. The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports. Subscribe
VOA News