US intelligence: nuclear weapons must be in Belarus already

July 22, BPN. The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has “no reason to doubt” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that Russia has moved a first batch of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, CNN reported, citing senior DIA officials.

Putin said last month at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that “the first [Russian] nuclear warheads were delivered to the territory of Belarus,” adding that they were placed there for “deterrence.”

Russia has about 4,477 deployed and reserve nuclear warheads, including around 1,900 tactical nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists. It is not clear how much of that arsenal Putin intends to move, and US and Western officials have not publicly confirmed that any weapons have been transferred to Belarus.

Senior DIA officials acknowledged that the weapons are difficult for the US intelligence community to track, even through satellite imagery.