Biden criticizes Russia’s nuclear deployment plan

News from the Financial Associated Press on May 28 (edited by Xia Junxiong)On Saturday (May 27), local time, the Russian side refuted US President Biden’s criticism of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons deployment plan.

Russia said on Thursday it was moving forward with deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, its first deployment outside of its borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Belarusian President Lukashenko revealed that these tactical nuclear weapons are already being delivered.

Biden said on Friday he was extremely disappointed by Russia’s push to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. The U.S. State Department has condemned Russia’s nuclear deployment plans.

The Russian embassy in the United States responded on Saturday: “In the case of Washington launching a large-scale hybrid war against us, Russia and Belarus have the right to take the means we deem necessary to ensure their own security. The measures we have taken are fully in line with our international legal obligations.”

The Russian embassy in the United States pointed out that the United States‘ criticism of Russia’s nuclear deployment plan is hypocritical and said that “Washington should reflect before blaming others.”

The Russian side said: “For decades, the United States has maintained a large nuclear arsenal in Europe, it has nuclear sharing arrangements with its NATO allies, and it conducts training for the scenarios of the use of nuclear weapons in our country.”

The United States has been deploying nuclear weapons in Western Europe since former US President Eisenhower authorized the deployment of nuclear weapons in Western Europe during the Cold War.

The United States currently has 100 B-61 tactical nuclear bombs deployed in Europe, including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

In the middle of this month, the United States updated its strategic nuclear weapons deployment. Data show that as of March 1 this year, the United States had deployed a total of 1,419 nuclear warheads, mounted on intercontinental ballistic missiles (land-based), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (sea-based), and heavy bombers (air-based); The total number of vehicles is 662, and if the vehicles without deployed nuclear warheads are counted, the number is 800.