Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. How this decision was reacted abroad – in the material of RTVI.
US Department of Defense:
“We have seen reports of Russian statements and we will continue to monitor the situation. We have no reason to change the way our strategic nuclear forces operate and we see no signs that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons. son Reuters statement to the Pentagon.
A similar statement was made in the United States State Department And United States National Security Council .
The representative of the German Foreign Ministry called the Russian president’s statement regarding plans to deploy Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus “another attempt at nuclear intimidation”, reports Deutsche Welle*. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also considered that the example given by Putin of the deployment of nuclear weapons in NATO countries “is misleading and cannot be used as a justification for the approach”.
Adviser to the Chief of Staff of Ukrainian President Mykhailo Podolyak declared that Europe should tighten sanctions against Russia in response to the decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. In particular, he called for the introduction of restrictions against Rosatom.
Youri Smityuk / TASS
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, tweeted that the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus would lead to the destabilization of the republic and increase “to the maximum” the level of “negative perception and of public rejection” of Russia among Belarusians. “The Kremlin has taken Belarus as a nuclear hostage,” he said.
Belarusian opposition leader, former presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya:
“The deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus directly violates the constitution of Belarus and seriously contradicts the will of the Belarusian people to accept a non-nuclear statehood, expressed in the Declaration of Sovereignty of the State of Belarus of 1990 “, said the politician in a tweet.
Analyst Opinion
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) claims on Twitter that this is an “extremely dangerous escalation” that increases the likelihood of nuclear weapons being used. In the context of the military conflict in Ukraine, “the probability of miscalculation or misinterpretation is extremely high”, warns the organization. The sharing of nuclear weapons considerably aggravates the situation and is fraught with catastrophic humanitarian consequences, underlines the ICAN.
American Institute for the Study of War (ISW ): the statement of the Russian president on the desire to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus is “another information operation” that does not increase the risk of starting a nuclear war. According to ISW, Putin, in his rhetoric, is trying to use Western fears of nuclear escalation to break his “determination” to support Ukraine. The head of state also wants to influence the “morale of the Ukrainians” in order to reduce the effectiveness of the expected Ukrainian counter-offensive, according to American analysts.
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Federation of American Scientists expert Hans Christensen: ‘It’s part of Putin’s game – he wants to bully NATO countries <…> because there is no military advantage in moving these weapons to Belarus – Russia already has so many weapons and such forces on its territory. territory," - said he Reuters.
Nikolai Sokov, senior researcher at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation:
“This is a very important event. Russia has always been very proud of not having nuclear weapons outside its territory. Now (the Russian authorities) are changing that, and these are big changes” (quoted by Reuters ).
Daniel Hogsta, Acting Executive Director of ICAN: “As long as President Putin has nuclear weapons, Europe cannot be safe. He justifies this dangerous escalation by saying that NATO members have shared nuclear weapons among themselves for decades. But if the countries of the world remain complicit in an approach in which nuclear weapons are not a global problem, but something else, it only helps Putin to behave in this way with impunity” (quoted by Reuters) .
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