Cichanoŭskaja calls on UN Security Council to prevent deployment of nukes in Belarus

April 1, BPN. Opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja has called on the UN Security Council to prevent the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, her press office reports.

“We urge the international community to demand from Russia to stop this threatening deployment and impose adequate and severe sanctions on the regimes of Łukašenka and Putin as outright threats to international peace and security,” she said in a letter on March 31.

Cichanoŭskaja also called on the world “to demand the withdrawal of the Russian military from Belarus and to cease Belarus’ participation in the Russian aggression against Ukraine” and supported “the demand of Ukraine to strip the Russian Federation of the UNSC permanent member status.”

“This should be just one of many acts in holding Russia accountable for its crime of aggression and war crimes in Ukraine and for repeatedly failing to meet its special responsibility in this Security Council,” she said.

The former presidential candidate said that “Łukašenka is a growing threat to international peace and security” and that Belarus “has an essential role and place for the regional security.”

The letter to the UN Security Council president was shared with its members ahead of the March 31 discussion of Putin’s plan to station nuclear arms in Belarus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel on March 25 that a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus would be completed by July 1. The West and Belarusian democratic forces denounced this plan, while China made some cautious comments.