Russian President Vladimir Putin said today, Saturday, that Russia has concluded an agreement with its neighbor Belarus to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on its territory, according to Reuters and citing Russia’s news agency (Tass).
He added: The reason for this step is Britain’s statement regarding the supply of depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine, indicating that this step does not violate nuclear non-proliferation agreements, pointing to the United States’ deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of its European allies.
This came amid nuclear tension between Russia and Britain, after the British Ministry of Defense announced that it would supply Ukraine with depleted uranium missiles, a step that angered Moscow and considered it a dangerous development and dragging the world towards a nuclear war, which prompted it to declare that it might have to respond as the situation requires, according to For Reuters.
And the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, had stated that there were fewer steps left before that could happen "Nuclear clash" Possibly between Russia and the West, in response to media reports that Britain will supply Ukraine with ammunition containing depleted uranium.
For his part, the British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, denied the existence of a nuclear escalation in the Ukrainian war, after the criticism directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to London regarding its supply of depleted uranium missiles to Ukraine, and he replied that everyone knows that depleted uranium is not considered a nuclear weapon, and that this type of Uranium is found in many weapons, including weapons used by Russia itself, according to Al Jazeera Net.
The British Foreign Secretary added at the launch ceremony of the British strategy for international technology "There is no nuclear escalation. The only country in the world that talks about nuclear issues is Russia. There is no threat to Russia. It’s all about helping Ukraine only defend itself".
And he continued "It must be ensured that everyone understands that the word uranium mentioned in the context of depleted uranium munitions is not nuclear munitions, but rather purely conventional munitions".
It is noteworthy that depleted uranium is used in weapons because it is able to penetrate tanks and shields more easily due to its density and other physical properties, and it also represents a special health hazard at its use sites because the resulting dust reaches the lung and other vital organs, according to Reuters.
According to the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, depleted or depleted uranium ammunition cannot be considered nuclear weapons, and does not meet the legal definition of nuclear, radiological, toxic, chemical or incendiary weapons, according to Al Jazeera Net.
