Moscow and Minsk had agreed on this, Putin said on state television on Saturday evening. Russia is not violating international treaties.
Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for more than a year. Belarus is one of Moscow’s closest allies.
Responding to tensions with NATO
Tactical nuclear weapons have a shorter range than ICBMs. This is Russia’s reaction to the tensions with NATO in the course of Putin war against Ukraine. Specifically, it is a reaction to the possible delivery of uranium ammunition from Great Britain to Ukraine. The projectiles with depleted uranium have a special impact, for example to destroy tanks.
Belarusian ruler Lukashenko has long asked for nuclear weapons to be stationed on his territory, he said Putin on TV. Iskander missile complexes have also been handed over to the neighboring country. The Kremlin chief announced that the construction of a nuclear weapons bay in Belarus would be completed on July 1. There was initially no information from Minsk.
Several hundred kilometers of range
Putin had repeatedly called on the USA in the past to withdraw nuclear weapons from Germany because Moscow felt that this threatened its security. Russia is not stationing any strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus that could reach the United States, for example. The range of tactical nuclear weapons is given as several hundred kilometers. The explosive effect is therefore between 1 and 50 kilotons of TNT.
