As you know, the development of facilities (accommodating nuclear weapons) will be completed on July 7 or 8, and we will immediately take measures regarding the deployment of the weapons in question on your territory.
Mr. Putin said during his meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Sochi (southwest Russia).
Everything is going according to plan
During this exchange, part of which was broadcast live on television, the Russian President added.
So this deployment must begin before the NATO summit scheduled for July 11-12 in Lithuania, the country bordering Belarus, during which Ukraine’s candidacy will be at the center of the discussions.
Putin announced on March 25 that Moscow would deploy nuclear weapons tactics
On the territory of Belarus, a country on the doorstep of the European Union, raising fears of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.
The so-called nuclear weapons tactics
They can cause massive damage, but their radius of destruction is more limited than that of nuclear weapons strategic
.
The announcement sparked criticism from the international community, and Westerners in particular, especially since the Russian leader, since the start of his attack on his Ukrainian neighbor in February 2022, raised the possibility of resorting to nuclear weapons.
In early April, Russia said it had begun training Belarusian soldiers in the use of “tactical” nuclear weapons.
At the end of May, Mr. Lukashenko confirmed that the transfer of Russian nuclear weapons to Belarus had already begun.
The transportation of nuclear charges has begun, and it has already begun
He said.
Belarus is not directly involved on the ground in Ukraine, but has lent its territory to the Russian army so that it can launch its offensive in February 2022.
After his hotly contested re-election in 2020, Lukashenko, who has held power for nearly three decades, has grown closer to Moscow, which provides financial, diplomatic and military support to his regime.
